Ion inks distribution deal with German tech firm

A North Smithfield-based software firm has inked an international distribution deal with a German company, aiming to bring its chemical-testing technology to the global marketplace.

Under the deal, signed in late April, GERSTEL GmbH & Co. KG will promote and distribute Ion Signature Technology on a global basis, “dramatically extending the availability” of Ion software around the world, Ion President John C. Moore said in a statement.

Based in Mulheim an der Ruhr, GERSTEL provides laboratory equipment that enables technicians to automate the preparation and introduction of chemical samples into testing instruments. It has a presence in 80 countries around the world.

Ion sells software and laboratory equipment designed to quickly identify and quantify chemical compounds in test samples. GERSTEL began promoting its technology last week at the Analytica 2006 International Trade Fair and Conference in Munich.

With the GERSTEL gear and Ion Signature software, Moore said, “users can dramatically accelerate their analysis and still unambiguously identify the compounds, even in complex samples.”

Rhode Island investors are banking on Ion’s success. The company moved to the state from Cambridge, Mass., in 2004 as part of an agreement to receive $75,000 in start-up capital from the state-funded Slater Technology Fund.

Last fall, Providence-based Cherrystone Angel Group invested $310,000 in Ion, and Slater pitched in an additional $150,000 to help the company grow in the state.

Cherrystone is a group of more than 50 private investors who pool resources to invest in young companies in New England.

Ion was founded in 1996 to market technology developed by Albert Robbat Jr., a professor of chemistry at Tufts University. Its products reduce the time required to identify chemicals in test samples by about 75 percent, according to the company.

Moore has said that Ion’s software has broad applications, useful to identify chemicals in everything from artificial flavors to human tissue.