Modernizing Healthcare Software: Legacy to Future-Ready UI for Laboratory Automation Software

A global medical technology company sought to modernize its flagship product line that powers automation in clinical laboratories worldwide. Their advanced diagnostic platform, widely used in high-volume testing environments, required a next-generation user interface to support cutting-edge sample management automation without disrupting backend systems or existing hardware ecosystems. They partnered with iLink Digital to architect and build a modern, agile UI platform aligned with the new industry standard, ensuring global scalability, high performance, and seamless integration.

Industry

Medical Technology

Company Size

45K+ Employees

Headquarters

Erlangen, Germany

Client Overview

The client’s integrated laboratory solution is a market standard for automation in immunoassay and clinical chemistry analyzers. As part of their innovation roadmap, they aimed to modernize the user interface layer of their sample-management software — originally built on legacy frameworks like WinForms, WPF, and .NET — and transition to a modern Universal Windows Platform (UWP) interface.

This effort was mission-critical to:

Improve modularity and long-term maintainability

Enhance user experience for lab technicians globally

Ensure hygiene and compliance in UI interactions

Drive performance and usability without altering backend logic or disrupting connected hardware

Challenges

The client faced four major challenges in delivering the next-generation solution:

• Modularity: The existing system lacked flexibility, making feature enhancements and localization efforts time-consuming and resource-intensive.
• User Experience: Technicians required a more intuitive and responsive interface to handle large volumes of data and streamline workflows.
• UI Hygiene: The interface had to meet rigorous usability, accessibility, and cleanliness standards suitable for clinical environments.
• Performance: A scalable, high-performing UI was essential for minimizing latency and supporting real-time diagnostics across thousands of samples.

Solution

iLink Digital’s engineering team collaborated closely with the client’s product owners to architect a robust and scalable UI platform — built from the ground up on UWP while maintaining the integrity of the existing backend systems.

• Front-End Isolation: The UI was completely decoupled from backend logic to ensure minimal disruption to the ecosystem.
• Agile, Scalable Architecture: The platform was built for extensibility, with future updates and features in mind.
• UI Consistency & Localization: The design ensured uniform experience across modules and supported multiple languages for global usability.
• Secure & Compliant Interfaces: With features like securable entities and hygiene-friendly design, the solution met healthcare-grade compliance standards.
• Automation Testing & Custom Components: Integrated testing frameworks and custom renderers ensured stability and performance throughout the development lifecycle.

Business Outcome

Faster Time-to-Market

Agile delivery enabled rapid iteration and deployment of modern UI features.

Improved Technician Experience

A cleaner, more intuitive interface reduced learning curves and boosted efficiency in labs.

Future-Ready Architecture

The modular, reusable design allows for seamless addition of new capabilities and hardware compatibility.

Stronger Global Compliance

Built-in localization and data security features supported the client’s regulatory and market expansion goals.

Technologies Used

Universal Windows Platform (UWP) – Modern, responsive app development

Microsoft Visual Studio & Team Foundation Server – Version control and CI/CD

Microsoft SQL Server – Backend data management

Visual C++ – Legacy system interoperability and performance-critical components

Conclusion

By partnering with iLink Digital, the client successfully transitioned from legacy UI systems to a modern, scalable, and performance-driven platform — without disrupting backend operations. The result is a globally deployable solution that reinforces the client’s leadership in clinical laboratory automation and sets the stage for future innovation.

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