Winter 2014 Customer Support Letter

March 11, 2014

Re:  Keep your CapNMR probe and automation system running at factory specifications with Uptime Support!

Dear Customer:

Brrrr!  It is that time of year.  The snow and the cold have been deep.  Let’s add another log to the fire and plan for a productive 2014.  We’ll get you started on the coldest mornings!

We would like to start by checking on the status of your equipment with a short phone call and also learn more about how you are using CapNMR and/or One-Minute NMR in your laboratory.  We have some customers running hundreds of CapNMR samples every week and others that only run a few ‘precious’ samples each month, as they isolate new molecules from nature.  We can possibly help you by sharing information about how other customers are getting the most use out of their probes and automation system.  In particular, we can help you scale down your procedures to save sample, solvent and magnet time.

We have also summarized our understanding of your current configuration and readiness condition using a new customer support web site. We have created an account for you on the web site that contains basic information about your existing CapNMR probe and/or automation systems.  In the ‘Recommended For You’ box, we have listed our suggested support plan options and made recommendations for potential upgrades to your system based upon our newest capabilities.  Many of our customers prefer to budget ahead for routine support (and we believe this is normally the most cost-effective choice), but we want you to know that we also provide the same exact high quality services on a ‘per incident’ basis.  Choose the support path that works for you.  In any case, we know that our probes and fluidics systems are capable of producing exceptional NMR spectra at the highest sample throughput in the industry and we want to keep your CapNMR and/or One-Minute NMR systems running in top condition.

Our Silver Level – Uptime Support Plan provides umbrella repairs coverage including our valuable cleaning and recertification service ANY TIME you need it.  Most of our plan customers find that an annual tune-up and confirmation of factory specifications keeps the probe running at its original factory specification and, most importantly, provides a high level of confidence in their CapNMR detector.  The Silver Plan also offers unlimited telephone support, software upgrades (value = $3750/yr.), access to special web tutorials and our convenient consumables kit (so you always have the right parts on hand, value ~ $500.).  We believe an Uptime Support Plan is a well-balanced investment.

This year, we are also re-introducing our Gold Level – Uptime Support Plan after proving this program for a year at Novatia, LLC.  ‘Go for the Gold’ and we will build a backup probe for your system and make it available (by Air Freight) as a loaner if your primary probe needs repair or cleaning services.  We added this service for customers in, (1) large departments with many users and/or (2) high throughput laboratories with many samples that need the highest level of uptime available.  Additionally, this premium plan includes Priority Response, an annual on-site Preventive Maintenance visit, Operator re-Training (on-site during PM or at our CapNMR school) and our unique Application Forum that provides direct access to industry experts—plus all of the services in our Silver Level plan.  We believe this is best support plan in our industry.  These ten elements combine to weave a security blanket of premium service that keeps your equipment running with the highest level of performance and uptime and provides you with quiet confidence.

A discussion of our Customer Support would not be complete without acknowledging the Protasis staff.  You work directly with these hard-working scientists and see the extra effort they expend to complete our comprehensive installation and training sessions on the front-end and to support you every day.  Help us help you by subscribing to our Silver- or Gold-Level Uptime Support Plan.

New Offerings/Upgrades for 2014

Windows 8 Upgrade for USPY customers.  One-Minute NMR was developed on Windows XP platforms.  A decade later, Microsoft has moved on to improved tools and now you can too!  Upgrade to our Windows 8 (or Windows 7, if your company prefers it) and you’ll run faster and achieve new levels of performance and security.  This upgrade is free to Uptime Support Plan customers.  Subscribe for two years or more and we’ll also upgrade your Instrument Server for FREE!  You’ll get a new mainboard with faster CPU, more RAM and a new, larger hard drive.

Expanded Kit Offerings on The microNMR Outlet.  We have posted our installation and consumable kits on a new online store at http://www.protasis.net/catalog.  The contents of each kit are listed in the bundle and separately.  You can order these items online using Paypal or purchase order.  Microfluidic systems work best with the correct parts.  We’ll show you our recommendations with pictures, diagrams and tutorials on the web site itself and with service notes that you can download.  Already have some parts on hand?  The store lets you unbundle the USPY kit and make substitutions.

Automate your existing CapNMR probe.  Still loading your CapNMR probe one ‘precious’ sample at a time?  Then you are getting good results–manual syringe loading is still sensitivity, simplicity and economy at its very best.  But you could get even more results overnight or over the weekend by adding one of our semi- or fully-automated sample loaders.  Have a CTC/LEAP liquid handler we could redeploy?  That is a good start and would get you running at a significant cost savings.  Look for a used HTC or HTS PAL in good condition and we’ll give it new life.

Run plates and vials directly on your cryoprobe.  Did you know you can run microplates or vial racks on your Bruker cryoprobe or Agilent cold probe?  One-Minute NMR is now compatible with flowcell inserts that you can easily drop into your cryo- or cold-probe in a few minutes.  The inlet tubing goes all the way through the bore and comes out through a port in the VT manifold.  The outlet tubing goes to waste or can go back to the CTC/LEAP liquid handler for recollection.  Bruker offers 15, 30 and 60uL active volumes with their CryoFit flow inserts.  Agilent offers 60uL active volumes.  Many customers already have these inserts.  No you can use them to good advantage!

Get Zero Dispersion Sample Loading (ZDSL).  Samples can be loaded in about two minutes using an inert fluorocarbon push liquid to displace the sample and park it in the downstream flowcell.  The fluorocarbon is immiscible with NMR solvents so samples are moved as plugs with no dilution during transport to the flowcell.  The result is striking!  Zero Dispersion Sample Loading (ZDSL) provides up to two-fold increases in S/N compared to same-solvent sample loading.  Since concentration is maintained, this system is ideal for quantitation of library samples or biologically sensitive screening studies.  Ask for the Amgen ENC poster.

 Want to amp your productivity?  If you are in a larger departments with many users and/or many samples, ask about our new rack pedestal (on wheels) Discovery NMR WorkCenter package with up to four independent HTSL pumps and six solvent reservoirs.  You could use this with our newest CapNMR DPC (Dual Proton Carbon Flowcells) Probe to get twice as much work out of your existing NMR system and “Cut the Cost of NMR in Half.”

Finally, let me tell you a little about a significant achievement for Protasis and our partners in 2013.  At the start of the year, as part of Pfizer’s Strategic Alliance program, we installed the world’s first CryoFree 200MHz HTS NMR magnet in an integrated, carted system for process chemists at Pfizer-Groton to use in reaction monitoring applications.  This unique magnet requires no liquid cryogens… ever!  Flip one switch to cool down the magnet (to 18 deg K in about 24 hours) using a standard cryo-refrigerator.  Then flip another switch to energize the magnet in about 15 minutes.  This compact magnet is 15” in diameter (with shielding) and 15” tall and is ‘right-sized’ for our CapNMR probe.  Ask for your copy of our joint Pfizer-Protasis ENC2013 poster with all of the details!  Additional results were also reported recently at PANIC in Charlotte in February and SciX in Milwaukee in September.

Let me know a good time for a brief call to review your instrument status and answer any questions about your system.  Please take a look at the web site (at http://www.protasis.net/catalog) and let us know how you like the new store—we’re still making changes, so tell us about any items you would like us to add—it is intended to become a combination of an ‘information repository’ and a ‘part/support/consumables’ store in one web site.  We’ll work with you to update the details on your configuration.  It will include the latest Instrument Status and Customer Recommendations reports for your system.  Send us some service photos of the front and back and closeups of your system and we will post them for easy reference.

Also, please let us what is new in your world.  Any recent publications?  Great looking spectra?  We would like to show some of your recent results in our ENC booth in Boston in March.

Best regards,

Dave