Thick and Thin Client LIMS

There are different forms of laboratory Information Systems or LIMS. The most traditional form of laboratory software has been the thick client LIMS, wherein the software is installed directly in the lab server. Another form is the thin client laboratory software. However, both these types of LIMS software have been losing ground to web-based LIMS software. To understand why labs prefer web-based software as compared to thick or thin based laboratory software, let’s first understand these two forms of LIMS:

Thick Client LIMS Software

Thick client laboratory software is a very independent form of LIMS. When the LIMS is a thick client one, the functionality of the lab depends heavily on its own computers and systems. The LIMS software is installed directly in the lab server, and the computers are modified to be able to access LIMS and modify it. This allowed the entire laboratory software to be heavily modified to suit the exact requirements of the lab and also established a high level of security for the lab since LIMS functioned within in-house computers only, and the software was only installed in the lab server.

However, although thick client LIMS software did allow for a huge amount of flexibility, it required a lot of knowledge, and the learning curve was very high to develop individualized versions of thick client LIMS software. Moreover, the setting up and maintenance of thick client LIMS software was very demanding because it would require dedicated servers, as well as individualized computers that could access the server and system at high speeds.

Moreover, thick client LIMS software also did not have a lot of functionality through web browsers. This could be solved by adding an additional feature to make the system web-enabled. However, this also provided only limited functionality, and the problem still persisted with thick client laboratory software. This is where thin client LIMS came into the picture.

Thin Client LIMS Software

Thin client LIMS software reduces a lot of costs to the lab for maintenance and setup of the system since the laboratory software actually works from a remote host without utilizing the resources of the lab’s computers. However, functionality was still reduced, and the LIMS software would require continuous and speedy real time access to the server at all times.

Thus, it can be seen that both thick and thin client LIMS software have their advantages, but they have their own disadvantages as well. The latest form of laboratory software, which is web based LIMS software, does away with the cons of both these systems and combines all the advantages to form a perfect laboratory system. Web based LIMS software usually works on a .NET Framework. This allows the system to run as thin client laboratory software from the outside through a web browser, while also running as thick client software behind the scenes. The learning curve is not high for a web based LIMS software, but the system still retains a good level of functionality through its user friendly interface.