In its first acquisition in four years, Agilent Technologies has bought life sciences software developer Silicon Genetics, for an undisclosed sum.

Agilent hopes that the acquisition of privately held Silicon Genetics' genomics data analysis and management tools will cement its leadership position in life science informatics. Earlier this year, Agilent announced the formation of an integrated biology group, a reorganisation that “definitely increases our investments in that area,” said Agilent’s Christina Maehr.

“Informatics are going to be key,” for researchers, Maehr said, “not just because of data analysis, the quantity of data, [scientists] being able to find the knowledge they’re looking for, but increasingly, as they find new applications, software doesn’t even exist.”

The attraction of Silicon Genetics included both programs and personnel. Silicon Genetics has been in the news lately for the success of its Varia software, released earlier this year. Researchers at TGEN in Arizona used Varia (albeit with microarrays from Agilent rival Affymetrix) to map and identify a candidate gene for a hereditary form of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) in a large, multi-generation Amish pedigree. The company is also known for the GeneSpring expression visualisation system, and data repository GeNet.

“Varia is a first-of-its-kind tool, and GeneSpring is the most popular gene expression desktop solution," Maehr said. But [Silicon Genetics] also has this pool of very talented software developers and marketing personnel, and have the kind of experience we’re looking for.”

Maehr said the acquisition was a “very good fit” for Agilent. “This enables us to develop software for new applications, and it better enables integration.” Agilent intends to integrate Silicon Genetics’ 50 or so staff into “an incubator for informatics products spanning DNA, RNA, protein and pathway applications.” Maehr also pointed out that Silicon Genetics had “approximately 2000 GeneSpring users,” which provided a “very good customer base.”

As for whether it was a harbinger of further deals, Maehr would not say. “We’re not opposed to acquisitions,” she said, “but we can't comment on any potential future acquisitions.” Two months ago, the company’s Fran DiNuzzo, vice president of the new Integrated Biology Solutions group, told Bio-IT World, “Our goal is to expand our business aggressively, and if that means adding platforms, we will do it.”

Separately, Agilent also announced a further investment in Rosetta, which Maehr said “reassures customers that these products are here to stay.”