National Instruments poised for major announcement at NI Week

Larry Desjardin- August 2, 2012

Move over, Austin City Limits.  The headline act this coming week from the Texas capital of Austin won’t be sporting a bass or a steel guitar.  A keyboard maybe!  That’s because the industry shifts its attention to NI Week, the annual conference hosted by National Instruments at the Austin Convention Center.

And it promises to be very exciting. NI has been teasing the industry with this countdown timer, boasting “26 years ago, National instruments redefined instrumentation. This summer we’re doing it again.”

That’s quite a statement, even for National instruments. NI has been dropping cryptic clues, the most recent being this sneak preview.  So we now know it has to do with RF- but what specifically?  Well, here’s one way to find out- follow this blog!

That’s right. Your humble correspondent will be traveling this weekend to Austin in order to be there at the launch. Bookmark this blog’s URL, as I will be adding my observations in the comment section below as events unfold. You can also follow me on Twitter at @modularconx. As usual, I welcome all comments and respond quickly, so feel free to ask questions as well.

There’s much more at stake than just a product announcement. In a recent post, Battle of the Titans & Why Modular Matters, I wrote about the high-stakes game being played out in the industry. The test and measurement marketplace is at the precipice of a disruptive change driven by modular instruments. Core to that change is the RF segment, historically dominated by traditional boxes.  Apparently, NI’s salvo will be directly aimed at that segment.

That’s not the only news however. NI Week is a 4-day conference and exhibition. NI is certain to have more announcements than the major one above. Furthermore, the exhibition showcases applications from NI partners worldwide.  Over 3000 engineers and scientists attend the exhibition and seminars. Like Apple, NI has transformed its own event into one of the major events of the industry. As with the NI announcements, I’ll be tweeting breaking news items and observations from the exhibition floor.

One other thing. I’m putting my own guess of NI’s announcement in a sealed envelope, to be opened once they announce. I can’t resist taking a guess!

So, fire up your computer, grab yourself a Lone Star, and enjoy the show.