Integrations around microscopes, software, accessories, and customer workflows live inside a delicate ecosystem of product boundaries, support expectations, and commercial ownership. Our work is shaped accordingly: custom for your specific case first, with a path toward something more repeatable where that makes sense.
Your customers will be able to access and use your product as a part of the environment they already work in.
Seven years in the ZEN environment gave us a great understanding of the API surface, the scripting conventions, and where the constraints are before starting the project. We know how to engineer hardware triggering and synchronisation via TTL, external device control from within ZEN, and custom interfaces that let operators interact with your product without leaving the ZEN environment. We know the limits of ZEN's hardware communication layer as well as its strengths. If the required approach is different, we will tell you that too.
If you are bringing a hardware or software product into a ZEISS-based workflow, send us a description of where you are. We will come back with an honest read on what the integration requires.
Each integration is custom. These categories reflect the common patterns we have built around.
Integration of TTL or software signals so external hardware acts in coordination with microscope acquisition events. Start on frame, stop on stage arrival, pulse on z-step, coordinated rather than manual.
Control of external devices: stage accessories, autoloaders, environmental chambers, custom mechanics, from within the ZEN workflow, removing the need to switch between control applications.
Connecting external analysis tools, AI inference services, or measurement libraries to ZEN acquisition output, so results feed back into the workflow rather than requiring manual export and re-import.
Bridging microscope acquisition to downstream data systems: LIMS, shared storage, reporting pipelines, or custom databases, with consistent naming, metadata, and format that your system can consume without manual steps.
A ZEN Window, panel, or guided workflow that lets operators interact with your product inside the ZEN UI, without needing to switch applications or follow a separate instruction manual.
Packaging an existing capability: a model, a measurement function, an algorithm, packaged into a callable service that ZEN or other lab tools can invoke via a clean, documented interface, rather than requiring direct interaction with the underlying system.
Tell us what you need to connect, and we will tell you whether it is feasible and what it involves.
Get in touch →Most integration work starts as a custom project. Some of it evolves from there.
This is the starting point for almost all partner work. We scope the specific integration requirement, agree on a fixed price, and build something that works reliably in the target environment. Ownership, reuse, and licensing terms are agreed before development starts. For one-off custom integrations, the deliverable is documented and handed over for use in the agreed environment. Where the work may become reusable or licensable, we define the IP and commercial model separately.
When the same integration pattern appears across multiple projects or customers, it can mature into a reusable component, a module you can deploy repeatedly with less customisation effort each time. We design with that evolution in mind from the start.
In cases where the integration is stable, well-tested, and consistently valuable enough to distribute commercially, a licensing model can make sense, particularly for accessory integrations or ecosystem add-ons with a defined install base.
If you need to demonstrate a workflow integration to close a deal, or to validate that your product can be integrated before committing to full development. We can scope and build a focused proof of concept to answer the specific question.
Three representative cases. Each one involved connecting something external to a ZEN-based workflow.
Two independent instruments: an AFM and a ZEISS LSM 980, operated from separate computers with no native communication. ZEN Blue Experiment Feedback was used to monitor a shared folder for AFM line completion events, then trigger the corresponding LSM acquisition. AFM lines stitch automatically alongside the fluorescence frame.
Integration of a wafer autoloader into a ZEN Blue acquisition workflow. The workflow sends the signal to load a wafer, confirms positioning, then proceeds with automated random-site acquisition and AI-based defect scoring, all as one continuous, unattended run.
Arivis instance and semantic segmentation models, previously only accessible through the Arivis web portal or ZEN manually, repackaged into a single Docker image. A REST API exposes model inference and cross-section layer thickness measurement via S3 I/O, removing the GUI dependency entirely and enabling pipeline-level automation.
The customer already had software for weld analysis. The integration delivered a secure intranet measurement server, accessible from within their application via a single API call that runs AI segmentation and HALCON measurement logic, then returns overlays and metric data as structured JSON for direct rendering inside their existing tool.
Before writing code, we establish what the target environment actually looks like: the ZEN version in production, the operator workflow, the hardware constraints. ZEN API behaviour varies across versions and the gap between a controlled setup and a production environment is real. We account for that before it becomes a problem.
We are transparent about what ZEN supports and what it does not, where the risks are, and what a realistic path from a custom integration to something more scalable looks like.
You describe the product, the integration requirement, and the target environment. We ask enough questions to understand scope and give you honest feedback on feasibility. Free, 30 minutes.
The scope, acceptance criteria, price, and delivery responsibilities are agreed before development starts.
Development happens against the real environment where possible, via remote access to your system or a replica we configure. You see progress and can give feedback during the build.
Delivery includes a documented, structured handover with agreed usage, ownership, and support terms. We include a handover session. Ongoing maintenance can be handled by SmartLabs or by a technically capable team familiar with the agreed environment, depending on the support model defined at the start.
Occasional notes on what we are building: workflow patterns, ZEN automation tips, and lessons from real projects. Roughly once a month, never more. Unsubscribe anytime.
A short description of the hardware, product, or tool you want to integrate is enough to start. We will come back with an honest assessment of feasibility and what a project would look like.