Automation for genomics has enabled a 43-fold increase in the total finished human genomic sequence in the world in the past four years. This is the second half of a two-part, noncomprehensive review that presents an overview of different types of automation equipment used in genome sequencing. The first part of the review, published in the previous issue, focused on automated procedures used to prepare DNA for sequencing or analysis. This second part of the review presents a look at available DNA sequencers and array technology and concludes with a look at future technologies. Alternate sequencing technologies including mass spectrometry, biochips, and single molecule analysis are included in this review.Sequencing data, essential for many of the medical breakthroughs of today and tomorrow, is currently accumulating at an exponential rate, largely because of advances in sequencing methods and laboratory automation. Instruments are available that can automate nearly every step in the large-scale sequencing process.The first article in this two-part review (Meldrum 2000) presented a description of automation designed for isolating DNA, cloning or amplifying DNA, preparing enzymatic sequencing reactions, and purifying DNA. Part one of the review also showed that the majority of genome centers use both in-house automation and commercial automation (Collins et al. 1998;Wendl et al. 1998;Mullikin and McMurragy 1999;Spurr et al. 1999; see http://www.genome.org for a supplementary table providing a snapshot view of automation used at a number of different genome centers).In this, the second part of the review, the focus is on automation after DNA preparation and sequencing reactions-on obtaining the sequence and its analysis. A discussion of future technologies for DNA sequencing projects is also included. (See the web sites referenced for photos or further details on the instruments presented.)