14th June 2005

Cambridge Consultants provides Tecan with European and US regulatory strategy for innovative diagnostics software

Cambridge Consultants today announces that it played a pivotal role in bringing the highly advanced Freedom EVOware® software from Tecan, a leading player in the life sciences supply industry, to the clinical diagnostics market. The technology based consultancy firm used its expertise in safety-critical software development and heavily regulated markets to advise Tecan Software Competence Centre on a US and European regulatory strategy. This enabled Tecan to move its revolutionary software, which has traditionally excelled in laboratory and research facilities, into the highly competitive world of clinical diagnostics, where Tecan is already a leading supplier of robotic workstations and liquid handling instruments.

Based on a successful family of existing products, such as FACTS™ and Gemini™, Freedom EVOware offers a new intuitive user interface, that simplifies ease of use from basic pipetting to multi-plate scheduled runs, and offers a flexible system for both experts setting up multi-device schedules and beginners with no experience. All of this functionality is available in one package, which has been designed to work across Tecan's complete range of Freedom EVO pipetting instruments in both research and diagnostic applications.

"We have received wide acclaim from many of our clients for the Freedom EVO® family of platforms and the Freedom EVOware software that now runs on all of them. Although clinical diagnostics is not a new market to us, we needed to ensure that our radically new software fully complied with the regulations from the ground up, before it was launched. By bringing in an expert like Cambridge Consultants, who has clear expertise in areas such as product audits, safety critical software and compliance methodologies, meant that we had a reliable and independent strategy for moving forward" stated Michael Laab, Managing Director of Tecan Software Competence Centre in Germany.

Duncan Bishop, Programme Director at Cambridge Consultants stated, "Initially used in research facilities the world over, Freedom EVOware became an instant hit as it delivered two important benefits - flexibility and ease of use. By running a thorough audit we were able to identify how the company could prepare Freedom EVOware software for regulatory approval with reduced risk."

The Freedom EVOware software, which was first unveiled in February 2005 at the LabAutomation exhibition in San Jose, California, is an industry first as it guides the user through the program and is capable of managing the most complex pipetting and scheduling tasks. This unmatched functionality opens the door of advanced assay control to a whole new group of users. In addition, Freedom EVOware supports laboratories working under the FDA's 21 CFR Part 11 regulation that need multilevel user management, full audit trail, electronic records and electronic signatures.

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Notes for editors:

Cambridge Consultants develops breakthrough products, creates and licenses intellectual property, and provides business consultancy in technology critical issues for clients worldwide. For nearly 50 years, the company has enabled its clients to turn business opportunities into commercial successes, whether launching first-to-market products, entering new markets or expanding existing markets through the introduction of new technologies.

With a team of over 270 engineers, designers, scientists and consultants, in offices in Cambridge (UK) and Boston (USA), Cambridge Consultants offers solutions across a diverse range of industries including medical technology, industrial and consumer products, automotive, transport, energy and wireless communications. For more information visit: www.CambridgeConsultants.com

Cambridge Consultants is part of the Altran group. Altran Technologies, which is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange (FR:003463), employs over 16,000 consultants in 20 countries around the world. In 2007 the group generated a turnover of €1,591.4 million. For more information visit: www.altran.com

Tecan is a leading player in the Life Sciences supply industry that specializes in the development, production, and distribution of solutions enabling the discovery of pharmaceutical substances, as well as for genomics, proteomics, and diagnostics. Tecan clients are leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, university research departments and diagnostic laboratories. Founded in Switzerland in 1980, the company has manufacturing, research and development sites in both North America and Europe and maintains a sales and service network in 52 countries. In 2004, Tecan achieved sales of CH 286.0 million (USD 230.6 million; EUR 185.7 million). Registered shares of Tecan Group are traded on the SWX Swiss Exchange (TK: TECN / Reuters: TECZn.S / Valor : 1210019).

Freedom EVO® and Freedom EVOware® are registered trademarks of Tecan Group Limited�.

For further information:

Cambridge Consultants Ltd

Patrick Pordage
Marketing Communications Director
Tel: +44 1223 420024
Patrick.Pordage@CambridgeConsultants.com