RE: BD TO END SUPPORT FOR FACS VANTAGE

BD TO END SUPPORT FOR FACS VANTAGEHi Richard and all,
Interesting that BD still supports the FACScan.
Mine turns 21 next month, maybe I'll buy it a beer.

Cheers to the FACScan!
21 years and going strong.

Best regards,
Tony Leger
ALT Service
  -----
  -----Original Message-----
  From: Konz, Richard [mailto:Richard.Konz@umassmed.edu]
  Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 8:53 AM
  To: Cytometry Mailing List
  Subject: RE: BD TO END SUPPORT FOR FACS VANTAGE


  Hi Mark and everyone:

  This is the usual way for BD to try to get us to buy new sorters.  I am
sure worse news will be coming our way as well.  The FACSCalibur is over a
decade old and I assume they will cease support at some point soon.  Then
we'll be buying FACSCanto II's, LSRII's, FC500's or Cyan's [others as well]
to replace them.

  I realize from a corporate standpoint that it is expensive to keep
replacement parts available, but there are certainly enough Vantage's
worldwide to extend the date beyond 2010.  As Mark mentioned, funding is not
all that plentiful these days.	I wonder what the stance of the NIH will be
when someone applies for a shared equipment grant to replace a piece of
equipment just because it is no longer supported by the manufacturer?

  I purchased a Vantage SE SORP [Special Order Research Products] with
FACSAria optics two years ago.	BD had better continue supporting SORP
products or they will lose quite a few customers; including me.
  BD is not the only company that makes cell sorters.  I just purchased a
new digital MoFlo; email me for a positive review.

  Aloha from Hawaii,

  -Rich

  Richard F. Konz, Jr.
  Assistant Professor
  Department of Medicine
  Graduate Faculty, Immunology and Virology Program
  Director, Flow Cytometry Core Facility
  UMass Medical School
  Room S5-322
  55 Lake Avenue North
  Worcester, MA  01655
  Office:  508-856-1598
  Lab:	   508-856-3276
  Email:  Richard.Konz@umassmed.edu
  HTML:  http://www.umassmed.edu/facslab
  Faculty Web Page:  http://www.umassmed.edu/ivp/faculty/konz.cfm




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--
  From: Mark Shlomchik [mailto:mark.shlomchik@yale.edu]
  Sent: Fri 11/2/2007 6:20 PM
  To: Cytometry Mailing List
  Subject: BD TO END SUPPORT FOR FACS VANTAGE


  Hi All,


  I don't know how many of you have yet received a letter stating that BD
will no longer support any version of the Vantage after the end of 2010. [I
will forward the text of the letter I received upon request]. This means no
further service contracts and if I understand correctly no further supply or
stocking of spare parts. That will eventually mean even third parties will
not be able to support the machines.


  I think this is a bad decision by BD and potentially disastrous for the
flow community. Given the current funding situation at least in the US, with
no clear end in sight, I doubt many of us will be able to come up with the
large sums of money needed to replace a cell sorter. And many of us have
customized our Vantages in ways no easily available even on an Aria.


  I have written BD to ask them to reconsider this decision. The gist of the
letter is at the end of this email. The response I recieved was a negative
one, at least so far.


  I would like people to post their responses to the list. I also think it
would be highly useful to direct their comments to BD, via emails to
GIl_Reinin (Gil_Reinin@bd.com) and also to their local sales person and
regional sales and service managers.


  [Text of my letter to Linda Newman at BD]


   ...I was wondering what BD expects users of perfectly good Vantage DIVA
instruments to do after you stop supporting them? What are you recommending?
I assume you don't expect us to throw them out.

  This maneuver, on its face and based on what I understand of it now, makes
me really wonder about my commitment to BD as a provider for us and I assume
I can't be alone in the flow world. I am sure it will get discussed on the
Listserv.

  I think this is a bad business and PR move for BD and I urge you all to
rethink it. Though it may cause some to buy new FACSArias in 2010, I think
overall it is going to erode sales and support contracts. It reminds me of
the "bad old days" of BD when the perception evolved that BDIS was not
listening to or caring about its customers. This provided a great opening
for MoFlo.


  Thanks to all those who can express their views on this,


--
Mark Shlomchik, MD, PhD
  Professor of Laboratory Medicine
  and Immunobiology
  Director Yale School of Medicine Flow Core
  http://info.med.yale.edu/immuno/cytometry/
  Yale University School of Medicine

  203-737-2089
  203-785-5415 (fax)
  mark.shlomchik@yale.edu
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