Winchester’s Protocol Manager Release of ASP Hosted Solution allows customers to de-ploy and pay for the system by the trial

WOBURN, MA – March 31, 2008 – Winchester has completed plans to deliver its award-winning Clinical Trials Management System (CTMS) in an Application Service Provider (ASP) hosted environment to new clients. The ASP release is based on IBM’s model for Software as a Service (SaaS).

Since the first release of Winchester’s CTMS called Protocol Manager, customers have deployed the CTMS in an “Enterprise Adoption” and licensed model. This has required an up-front li-cense expenditure for customers as well as annual subscription and support.

Winchester has added a new ASP-Hosting model option that allows customers to get started us-ing the system in a validated ASP computer hosting center quickly with a very-small upfront in-vestment. Customers pay a small monthly amount for the use of the system on a “by the trial” basis.

The ASP deployment allows customers to experience the full benefits and broad functionality of Protocol Manager on a trial-by-trial basis. There is very little upfront investment for setup, proc-ess development, and training.

Effective customer support is the key to success in the ASP model. According to Michael Re-gentz, Managing Director of Winchester, “Winchester will not make progress in the SaaS and ASP market unless Winchester can provide support that customers can buy and point to and speak to -- if something is not working for them. Winchester well understands that the appropri-ate levels of support are essential for on-demand software to be competitive.”
Beyond the basic support level, Winchester provides a full range of support and helpdesk ser-vices on an ala carte basis. The customer may choose the Winchester services that are appropri-ate for the customer’s trials. The ASP service is bundled with a level of support that satisfies most customers. Configurable support contracts are also available from Winchester.

“On-demand” training classes are available from Winchester for end users and administrators. The hands-on training includes end-user training for project managers, project assistants, docu-mentation specialists, clinical research associates (CRAs), and system administrators. Winches-ter also offers tailored courses to customers based upon the customer’s needs. Winchester offers training course essentials to customers who may wish to use them during the “provisioning” phase of a trial with their investigator sites.

Coupled with the ASP model is Winchester’s latest release of the “zero client” model for CRAs and Investigator sites. This zero-client means that CRAs and Investigator sites may access and use the system with only an Internet Browser and an Internet connection. Winchester plans to expand the “zero client” to include all clinical trial team roles by mid-2008.

Both the hosted and enterprise license versions have been released with interfaces to popular Electronic Data Capture (EDC), Clinical Data Management Systems (CTMS), and Interactive Voice Response Systems (IVRS). According to Michael Regentz, “The interfaces eliminate the need for entry of the same data to more than one system. The CTMS provides the overall in-stant, real-time window to the conduct and performance of the clinical trial.”