by
DR » Thu Mar 01, 2018 2:45 am
My impressions as someone who uses Empower tons but has done a Chromeleon (CM) 6.8 demo and participated in an enterprise CDS selection group more than once:
Empower has edges in market share, regulator acceptance, training and support. They also tend to get reliable drivers for newer instruments into users' hands quite a bit faster than CM developers do.
CM does have a more user friendly interface and not as steep of a learning curve. Those are about the only advantages.
Both currently have analytics that will assist managers in seeing what systems and users are productive and which aren't. Empower's instrument setup is easier than CM's. Both require about the same level of IT support, same considerations when it comes to restricting antivirus software on the acquisition PCs etc. Empower comes with an Oracle backbone. CM allows for Oracle or SQL, so your IT department may have a preference in light of this.
They also both can accommodate most recent instruments from most big name vendors, but not the very newest things (ie: QDa detectors in use? Probably not going to want CM). If you're using Knauer LCs, for another example, ask before buying I don't think there's instrument support for them from Empower.
Both CDS include tools for size exclusion/GPC, dissolution and other "tricky" calculations though it may be at additional cost. Between these options and having learned a bit about custom fields in Empower, I've managed to automate AV calculations for CU assays. I do not know if this is doable in CM.
I also do not know if Fusion (S-Matrix) works as well with CM as it does Empower, nor do I know if CM has anything like Method Validation Manager available. If you need development and/or validation tools, these are Empower features worth investigating.
The developers at Waters are aware that CM has been nibbling at their market share for the past few years and they are taking steps to remedy the situation. They are coming up with cloud based Empower to alleviate things like the communication issues that can complicate multi-site/single database installations (for the Pfizers of the world), and they're talking about a major redesign of the interface.
These should both be available *soon*.
In the end, it will depend on support for your instruments, your users and your type of analyses.
Hope this helps.