AB releases 4 HQ and PI as 5500xl and 5500 SOLiD

Was lucky to be part of the 1st group to view the specs and info on the new SOLiD 4 hq.
For reasons unknown,
They have renamed it to 5500XL and 5500 solid system which is your familiar 4 HQ and PI 
Or if you prefer formulas.
5500xl = 4 hq
5500 = PI

One can only fathom their obession with these 4 digits judging by similar instruments named 
AB Sciex Triple Quad 5500 and the AB Sciex QTrap 5500



Honestly the 5500 numbers are of no numerical significance AFAIK.


outlook wise both  looks like the PI system
I DO NOT see the computer cluster anymore, that's something I am curious about. 

Finally we are at 75 bp though. 
Of notable importance, there is a new Exact Call Chemistry module (ECC) which promises 99.99% accuracy which is optional as it increases the run time. 
the new solid system is co-developed with the Hitachi-Hi Technologies. 
Instead of the familiar slides, they use 'flowchips' now. with 6 individual lanes to allow for more mixing of samples of different reads. 
for the 5500xl
throughput per day is 20-30 Gb 
per run you have 180 Gb or 2.8 B tags (paired ends or mate pairs)


Contrary to most rumours, 5500xl is upgradeable from SOLiD 4 although I suspect it is a trade in program. No mention about the 5500 (which i guess is basically a downgrade).


The specs should be up soon
solid.appliedbiosystems.com/solid5500 




Update from seqanswers from truthseqr 
http://seqanswers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6761&goto=newpost

Here is the message that has just been posted:
***************
AB is premiering two new instruments at ASHG next week.

Mobile ASHG calendar: http://m.appliedbiosystems.com/ashg/ (http://solid.community.appliedbiosystems.com/)

Twitter account: @SOLiDSequencing (http://twitter.com/SOLiDSequencing)

SOLiD Community: http://solid.community.appliedbiosystems.com/

More info soon at: solid.appliedbiosystems.com/solid5500/ (http://solid.appliedbiosystems.com/solid5500)