Resource allocation software has brought visibility to project workflow and availability among 450 R&D scientists and engineers.

The human genome was first mapped in 2000, but already that's so "yesterday." So says Jeffrey Killian, the director of global research and development operations at PerkinElmer Inc.'s Life and Analytical Sciences Division. Killian oversees 450 scientists and engineers and a pipeline of as many as 150 new technologies that will be used in products for drug discovery, genetic screening, and environmental and chemical analysis.

The $1.06 billion division brings in the bulk of PerkinElmer's $1.7 billion in annual revenue through some 15,000 actively updated products. Some of those are new to the PerkinElmer fold, having come from acquisitions of companies such as New England Nuclear (where Killian worked) and Packard Biosciences. The acquisitions have filled out PerkinElmer's product lines; for example, the company now has offerings in every piece of the drug discovery process, from the instruments used to run experiments to the chemicals (called "reagents") used to identify chemical reactions and the software that analyzes the results.