A portable FTIR spectrometer system has been developed to provide rapid on-site spectroscopic information. Rather than taking the samples from the field to the lab for analysis, the portable instrument allows an analyst to take the lab to the field. Depending on the modification the system is capable to allow connection to any standard FTIR accessory or to special integrated accessories for ATR, reflection and transmission measurements. The spectrometer is small enough to fit into a standard briefcase. The instrument is controlled using Windows 98/XP based software operating an a standard notebook computer. The spectrometer provide a full range of resolution, from 4 cm?1 for routine analysis up to 0.5 cm?1 for high resolution work such as gas and multicomponent analysis.