Highlights

Nikon Instruments and JEOL have collaborated on the NeoScope, a new bench scanning electron microscope (SEM) that the companies say fills the optical microscopist’s need for advanced imaging capability that is affordable and easy to use. The companies expect the NeoScope will help accelerate research in several fields, including failure analysis of manufacturing materials.

The NeoScope SEM offers 10X to 20,000X magnification without the need for a lens change. Operation is simplified through auto-focus, auto-contrast, and auto-brightness controls. In addition, the instrument operates in both low- and high-vacuum modes and has three settings for accelerating voltage (15 kV, 10 kV, and 5 kV), all of which can be programmed in stored recipe files. The NeoScope can handle samples of up to 70 mm in diameter and up to 50 mm thick.

“We’ve found a natural platform where both companies meet,” said Peter Genovese, JEOL USA VP and GM of sales in Peabody, MA. “Nikon and JEOL have products that complement one another in the laboratory and research environment. The science of electron microscopy is very closely related to optical microscopy, but the NeoScope SEM extends the depth of field and resolution far beyond the optical microscope.” www.jeolusa.com; www.nikoninstruments.com.

The Concord family of interface cards from Matrox Imaging is prelicensed for use with the Matrox Imaging Library (MIL) and is designed to simplify the connection to GigE Vision or IEEE 1394 IIDC devices. The single-port Concord GigE interface card is configured to reduce GigE Vision protocol loading on the host through the default enabling of jumbo packets, and it provides optimum settings for the interrupt throttling rate and number of receiver buffers.

The Concord 1394 interface card features three IEEE-1394a/b adapter ports and a 1394a/b bilingual copper connection. The card also handles the S400 and S800 transfer rates of 1394a and 1394b.

Both versions support 64-bit conventional PCI and x1 PCI Express host interfaces. Software support is available for 32-bit Microsoft Windows XP. www.matrox.com/imaging.

Consulting firm Frost & Sullivan recently honored Pleora Technologies with its 2007 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Innovation. The award recognized the role Pleora played in bringing Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) products to the machine-vision market.

“Pleora’s iPORT family of GigE connectivity products broke new technological ground,” said Vishnu Sivadevan, a research analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “The company proved that machine-vision applications, where performance and reliability is paramount, can use the economical GigE platform to transport video and imaging data in real time between cameras and PCs, eliminating the need for more costly specialized equipment. This award is a validation of the technology risks Pleora took in carving out a place for GigE connectivity in high-performance vision applications.”

The iPORT IP engines convert video and imaging data to IP packets for distribution over Ethernet networks. www.frost.com; www.pleora.com.