VIDAS KUBE LIS Integration: Connecting bioMérieux Over SFTP

Most analyzer interfaces are a conversation: a serial cable or a TCP socket, a handshake, a stream of bytes. The bioMérieux VIDAS KUBE does something different. It exchanges results and orders as XML files on a file server. There is no socket to listen on and no byte-level handshake to answer, and that is exactly why many middleware products have no answer for it.

LISBridge supports the VIDAS KUBE natively, including ordering. This post covers how the connection works, what the XML contains, and what to prepare before you set it up. It sits alongside the older VIDAS and Minividas instruments, which use a different, serial-style interface.

The VIDAS KUBE and BCI Connect

The VIDAS KUBE is a bioMérieux immunoassay system. Its LIS interface is called BCI Connect. Instead of pushing data at a listener, the analyzer side writes result files to a file server and reads order files from it. The host system is expected to pick results up, process them, and drop orders in the other direction.

This is a third connection tier in LISBridge, alongside RS-232 serial and TCP/IP. The same application handles all three, so a lab with a serial haematology analyzer, a TCP chemistry analyzer and a KUBE sees them in one place, on one real-time monitoring dashboard.

Why File-Based Analyzers Get Skipped

A file-based interface breaks assumptions that a lot of middleware is built on.

• There is no connection state to watch. A socket is either up or down. A file server can be reachable while nothing useful is happening on it.
• Files can arrive half-written. A reader that grabs a file mid-transfer processes a partial document.
• Each file is a complete document. The parser must understand the whole XML structure, not a line-oriented record.
• The network side is the lab's own infrastructure. FTP, FTPS or SFTP, a firewall, a service account: this is IT territory, not just instrument territory.

Vendors who have built their product around serial and socket protocols tend to quote custom work for this, or decline. The result is the familiar pattern: results read from the screen and typed into the LIS. Our post on the cost of manual lab transcription puts numbers on what that habit costs.

How LISBridge Handles the Transport

LISBridge connects to the file server over FTP, FTPS or SFTP. For any server exposed beyond a trusted internal segment, SFTP or FTPS is the sensible choice, because plain FTP sends credentials and data unencrypted. Which one you can use is decided by what your bioMérieux BCI Connect server offers and by your site's security policy.

LISBridge handles the file lifecycle, so you do not have to script it. As with every connection, a dropped link recovers itself: reconnection uses exponential backoff and jitter. Results are written to crash-safe local storage (SQLite WAL), so a power cut or restart mid-processing does not lose them. The raw file content is stored alongside the parsed result, so you can always compare the XML the analyzer produced against what was recorded.

What the Result File Contains

Results arrive as aiMessage XML documents. Each result file carries a single test order with a single test and its result. That one-result-per-file design keeps parsing precise, but it also means a busy day produces a lot of small files rather than one long stream.

The value field packs two things into one string: a number and an interpretation, separated by a vertical bar, such as a measured value followed by a positive or negative call. The separator is always present, even when the interpretation is empty. The numeric side can carry a less-than or greater-than prefix, which XML delivers as an escaped entity or wraps in a CDATA section, and it can also be empty for purely qualitative assays.

LISBridge unpacks all of those cases:

• Quantitative results come through as the numeric value, with the less-than or greater-than prefix preserved.
• Qualitative results come through as the interpretation text.
• When both exist and the interpretation is textual, you get both, for example a number with its call in brackets.

That level of care matters most for the borderline cases. A result of "less than" a detection limit is not the same as the limit itself, and a parser that strips the prefix silently turns one into the other.

Bidirectional Ordering on the KUBE

The VIDAS KUBE is one of the 17 bidirectional instruments LISBridge supports. Orders travel the other way as lisMessage XML documents written to the file server for the analyzer to read. The flow for a lab is the one you would expect: the order is created in your HIS or LIS, LISBridge picks it up, writes the order file, and the analyzer runs the right assays when the sample is loaded.

LISBridge pulls orders from your HIS or HMS by outbound polling, so you do not open inbound firewall ports into the hospital network. The wider mechanics are covered in how bidirectional lab orders work and pulling orders from an LIS.

Setup Walkthrough

1. Get the file-server details from bioMérieux or your service engineer: host, port, protocol (FTP, FTPS or SFTP), and the directories used for results and orders.
2. Create a dedicated service account on the server with only the permissions this integration needs. Do not reuse an administrator login.
3. Add the instrument in LISBridge, choose the file-transport connection type and enter those details.
4. Map assay codes to your LIS test codes in the mapping screen. You do this yourself; there is no custom programming and no vendor ticket.
5. Run a handful of known samples, including a qualitative assay and one with a below-detection result, and compare the LISBridge record against the analyzer's own report.
6. Send a test order and confirm the analyzer picks up the lisMessage file.

The instrument page has the current specifics: VIDAS KUBE on LISBridge. If your lab also runs older VIDAS equipment, see VIDAS and Minividas, and the device connectivity overview for how mixed fleets share one installation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does LISBridge support the VIDAS KUBE over SFTP?

Yes. File transport works over FTP, FTPS and SFTP, and SFTP or FTPS is the better choice wherever the server is not on a fully trusted segment.

Is the VIDAS KUBE bidirectional with LISBridge?

Yes. Results come in as aiMessage XML and orders go out as lisMessage XML.

How are results such as "less than" values handled?

The prefix is preserved, so a below-limit result is never silently turned into the limit itself.

Do I need to open inbound firewall ports?

No. LISBridge pulls orders from your HIS or HMS by outbound polling.

What happens if the file server goes away briefly?

LISBridge reconnects automatically with exponential backoff and jitter, and results already received are held in crash-safe local storage.

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