Spotfire Inc. this week will debut DecisionSite 7.0, a new release of the company's software for analyzing and managing product life cycles. Developed for the pharmaceutical industry, DecisionSite can now be configured to help managers in a range of industries analyze product-related information for product development, product portfolio management, manufacturing, yield and defect management, warranty analysis, and product performance.

Version 7.0 includes DecisionSite Statistics, statistical analysis and data-mining functions that can be added to analytical applications, and DecisionSite Developer for configuring the software for a company's product-development process. The software also provides the new DecisionSite Advantage methodology for configuring and deploying the software and offline analytical capabilities for continuing analytical tasks using mobile devices.

Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. uses the new software to help develop synthetic compounds for the pharmaceutical industry. Specifically, IT managers at the Boston company are using DecisionSite to develop analytical tools that scientists use to visualize "virtual compounds" before developing them in a laboratory. While the pharmaceutical industry has made gains in recent years in automating the clinical testing phases of drug development, the earlier discovery steps remain very labor-intensive, CIO Andy Palmer says. "We think life sciences, and pharmaceuticals in particular, are plagued with inefficient information-management practices," he says.

DecisionSite 7.0 is available now. The software is sold on a subscription basis, starting at $25,000 per year for pilot projects.