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Innovation's one-two punch

By Richard A. Quinnell, Technical Editor- June 1, 2006

Innovation never seems to come in one big burst. Instead, it is a one-two punch.

For PXI Express, the first punch was the creation of the technology itself. Creating a high-speed, serial data-handling bus that faithfully mimics the behavior of the older parallel bus required a combination of inspiration and clever execution. Those attributes essentially define innovation.

The immediate result of creating PXI Express will be a tremendous boost in the data-handling capability of PXI-based instrumentation. PXI Express offers more than 40 times the data bandwidth of PXI while offering complete software compatibility with PXI.

The second punch is now the one to look for. Whenever an innovation provides a jump in the performance of an existing capability, it usually follows that up with something entirely new. Engineers will inevitably discover that they can now implement a design that was previously not feasible. With this discovery will come inspiration, and wholly new applications and design approaches will appear. The innovation in equipment thus produces innovations in applications, the second punch.

While the first punch is essential to what follows, it is this second punch where fortunes are won or lost. The new applications and approaches will open significant revenue opportunities for those who pioneer them. Study that first punch carefully so you can determine where to land the second.