September 19, 2006

Open Letter to Herb Kenny, Vice President, Global Commercial Operations, Thermo Electron Corporation.

CC:  ISOGEOCHEM and Micromass User List serves

Dear Mr. Kenny,

The recent acquisition of GV Instruments Limited by Thermo Electron Corporation represents a major change in the landscape of instrumentation for stable isotope mass spectrometry.  The measurement community has received your letter of July 21, 2006 in which you announce the acquisition of GVI's product line and assure us that "during the integration period and beyond", Thermo will be dedicated to providing us with advanced solutions, robust products and world-class customer service.  We feel your letter deserves a response from the customer base into which you have placed yourselves, and hope that we can stimulate some discussion around this issue. 

As researchers who have developed measurement programs based on GVI mass spectrometers, there are a number of things that are of concern to us. 

First, while it may be true that there are other manufacturers of stable isotope mass spectrometers, the reality is that more than 95% of the research community uses either Finnigan or GVI mass spectrometers.  Some labs have used several brands of mass spectrometers, while others have chosen a single brand for simplicity of training staff, consumable costs, and development work. Both instrument lineages have played key roles in major advances in knowledge across numerous disciplines. Universities and governments have invested millions of dollars into research programs, utilizing Isoprimes. It is critical for many research programs that the support for both of these platforms continues well into the future. 

 Collaborating with end users on innovations has been a fruitful two way street for both manufacturer and researchers alike.  Our experience with GVI in particular has been that the Isoprime platform exhibits considerable flexibility in application and that the company as a whole has demonstrated a willingness to respond quickly and specifically to users needs.

One example is with the laboratory of Peggy and Nathaniel Ostrom at Michigan State University, where GVI modified the instrument after the order was placed to enable an Isoprime to simultaneously monitor all of the masses of interest for nitrous oxide isotopomers (30, 31, 44, 45, and 46) and thus provided the first commercial instrument of this capability.  Furthermore, the MassLynx software was rapidly modified to meet this specific need.  Similarly, a close association between one of us (Ralph Keeling) and GVI resulted in the construction of a novel sample introduction system that enabled rapid and highly precise determinations of O2/Ar and N2/Ar in air, an important measure of global change, that would be extremely difficult to perform on other existing instruments (Keeling et al., 2004 Tellus 56B: 322-338). 

The continued success of many research programs will rely on the ability of Thermo Electron to continue this level of support and flexibility. The importance of this issue is illustrated by the 16-year-old and ongoing global monitoring of green house gases project at the University of Colorado that produces extremely valuable data to the global research community.  The methodology for this work has been built upon GVI mass specs, and it is critical that the level of engineering support from the manufacturer continue if the program is to have continuity and remain a cornerstone of our understanding of global climate change.

Together, we are hoping to hear from you a stronger message of commitment that you will continue to support this line of product.  This would mean keeping key senior engineering personnel on board to deal with ongoing issues in both hardware and software. We are very concerned when we hear of possible lay-offs of GVI employees who have been fundamental to the success of our research by providing high quality customer support and individual attention.  Does Thermo have an effective and viable plan to assist in the maintenance of the large number of VG, Fisons, and GVI instruments that remain in operation?  Perhaps one of the greatest assets of GVI and its former companies was a willingness to provide service in a constructive manner and at reasonable prices, which is probably one of the most important contributors to customer loyalty. Will Thermo continue this standard?

Furthermore, we remain concerned regarding maintenance of software platforms. The majority of Isoprimes currently in operation run on the MassLynx software platform that has evolved into a powerful system, which puts great flexibility and information in the hands of users.  While some users have little interest in much of the capabilities of MassLynx, the many of us who are involved in technique development find it a wonderful platform for innovation.  As noted above, this innovation has often fed back into new instrumentation (and sales) by GV.  While it is clear that MassLynx cannot be maintained for copyright reasons, it is our hope that capabilities of this software and personnel qualified to assist users will continue to be an integral part of the company. 

Stable isotopes have numerous up-and-coming applications for climate change studies, ecology, forensics, and many other fields, and we hope that Thermo will encourage the development of the use of isotopes in these fields by keeping the instrumentation affordable, despite the current lack of competition. We hope that your goals not be simply in dollar signs but will remain in step with those of most of your clients - serving science and society. 

We look forward from hearing more news and information from you and from Thermo concerning developments associated with the acquisition of GVI, and we look forward to working with Thermo in the future.

Signed:

Bruce H. Vaughn                         
Senior Scientist, INSTAAR, University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado

Nathaniel E. Ostrom, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Zoology
Michigan State University

Ralph F. Keeling
Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego

Eric Steig
Associate  Professor, Earth and Space Sciences
University of Washington

Carol Kendall
U.S. Geological Survey
Menlo Park, California
(Personal view may not reflect that of the employer)

Leonard I. Wassenaar
Research Scientist
Envionment Canada
(Personal view may not reflect that of the employer)

Leonel da S. L. Sternberg
Department of Biology
University of Miami

Stephen Macko
Professor, Environmental Sciences
University of Virginia

Valerie Claymore
GNS Science
Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Simon Poulson
Research Associate Professor
Dept. of Geological Sciences & Engineering
University of Nevada - Reno

Karl Kreutz
Associate Professor,Climate Change Institute and Department of Earth Sciences
University of Maine
Oreno, Maine

Pamela Gemery-Hill
Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey
Lakewood, Colorado
(Personal view may not reflect that of the employer)