Content meets conduit

One of the problems with the new economy is that there’s always been more bandwidth than content. The same can be said for companies developing SNP genotyping technologies. A case in point is Illumina Inc., which by all accounts has done a good job executing its strategy of offering customers a complete set of systems for SNP genotyping and gene expression. Indeed, first quarter sales of the company’s products came in at $23.3 million, up 91% from $12.2 million in the same quarter in 2005.

But ILMN has always aspired to layer a diagnostics capability on top of its genotyping products, and that requires content. The company last week took its first major step down the DNA diagnostic path via a deal with deCode genetics Inc...