2000 Annual Report
Integrated Software and Hardware
The key to our solutions is the superior integration of our powerful, flexible software with our modular hardware. With this integration engineers and scientists from R&D to manufacturing can create their own customized solutions, and they are now beginning to leverage the Web to extend their solutions across the enterprise. Based on industry standards, our software also integrates seamlessly with a variety of third-party hardware options for an open development platform.
Modular Software and Hardware
With NI software and hardware tools, engineers and scientists are not tied to today's technology. Because of the flexibility of our software, if a faster computer or better measurement device comes along, customers can take advantage of these improvements with minimal investment in hardware and little or no changes in software. As we introduce new technologies, such as machine vision and motion control, our customers can easily integrate them with their existing measurement devices because of the power and flexibility of our software. This results in lower costs and faster-time-to-market.
For example, leading optical networking manufacturers integrate NI measurement, motion control, and machine vision together in the same system to improve production yields, enabling up to 10 times faster assembly of optical components, such as laser amplifiers, laser diodes, lenses, collimators, and more.
Industry Standards
Creating a measurement and automation system around industry standards leads to lower development and maintenance costs now and in the future. At NI, we know this is important to our customers, and we actively drive and participate in the development of open industry standards. For instance, we are a founding member of the VXIplug&play Systems Alliance, PXI Systems Alliance, and the IVI™ Foundation - all established to elevate the importance of standardization and to make measurement systems easier to use. The open architecture of our products provides customers the flexibility to develop custom solutions that combine our products with those from instrument suppliers, computer vendors, and our partners.
Long-Term Compatibility
We are committed to providing the latest technologies while maintaining compatibility for previous generations. We deliver a smooth, long-term transition so engineers and scientists can maintain their solutions for a long period of time.
To achieve long-term solutions, we provide software that supplies standard application programming interfaces (APIs) to ensure compatibility as computers, networks, and operating systems advance, as well as to ensure scalability to different computer platforms. For example, users can develop on a Windows 2000 workstation and target their solution for a notebook computer or PXI/CompactPCI™ industrial system running Windows 98. With standard software and scalable systems, we create a solution that best matches our customers' needs, now and in the future.
