Vista 2000 is unique among instrument control software because it can connect to and control multiple instruments of multiple types. You can, for example, control a 16 detector MDS and a WPC-9550, from a single PC. The user interface is consistent regardless of the instrument type. On the instrument windows shown here, you can see that the only difference relates to the differences in sample handling among systems. The WPC-9550 has an automatic sample changer, so there must be some means to control it. The MDS has four detector per MPC-9604 subsystem, so there is a way to select the active detector parameter display. The MPC-9300-PC and MPC-2000-PC are manual single detector systems, so there is no sample changer control or detector selection necessary.

With this versatile design, a laboratory can manage several instruments from a single user interface and operation. The training implications alone are significant. You can "train once, operate many...".

Vista 2000 will automatically recognize compatible systems and configure itself for them. Other than connecting the interface cables, there are no complicated setup procedures required for Vista 2000. Currently there are four Protean alpha/beta counters compatible with Vista 2000, the WPC-9550, MDS, MPC-9300-PC, and MPC-2000-PC.