Development Program facilitates test system design.
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Press Release Summary:
Agilent Open program offers products and services based on open industry standards that help speed product development. System-ready instruments come with I/O and software that configures, interfaces, and discovers other instruments while verifying instrument connections. Standard PC I/O interfaces such as LAN, USB, and GP-IB accelerate process of connecting test equipment. Agilent VEE Pro and Visual C++ provide transition into Excel and other programming languages.
Original Press Release:
Agilent Technologies' New Program, Agilent Open, Simplifies Test-system Design
System-ready instruments, open software and PC-standard I/O provide quick connection of test instruments, reducing time and cost
PALO ALTO, Calif., March 29, 2005
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced Agilent Open, a program that simplifies test-system setup and integration by offering instruments based on open industry standards. Agilent Open offers a wide selection of products and services designed to minimize setup time, reduce costs and speed new product development and manufacturing of today's rapidly changing and growing electronics market.
To create new test systems, or add to existing ones, engineers must often combine multi-vendor instruments that use different software and I/O technologies. This process can take anywhere from hours to weeks, depending on the complexity of the system. Then engineers must learn and manage the different software that accompanies each instrument, further slowing the process. To address these challenges, the industry is moving toward open-standards-based test tools.
"Electronics products, from wireless devices to automobiles, often combine several emerging technologies into smaller, single units," said Pat Byrne, president of Agilent's Electronic Products and Solutions Group. "As electronics companies rush to get these new, increasingly complex products to market, engineers must create test systems quickly and easily adapt them to new technologies. To address these challenges, the industry is moving toward open-standards-based test tools. Agilent Open supports this trend with a wide offering of products and services."
The Agilent Open program has three key components: system-ready instruments, PC-standard I/O and open software.
System-ready instruments come with I/O (such as LAN and USB) and software that automatically configures, interfaces and discovers other instruments regardless of the manufacturer, and verifies instrument connections, reducing test setup time to minutes.
Standard PC I/O interfaces such as LAN, USB and GP-IB (general-purpose interface bus -- the dominant 8-bit parallel I/O connection for test equipment and test systems) and a host of I/O converters dramatically simplify and accelerate the process of connecting test equipment. This capability enables engineers to easily connect instruments from multiple vendors and offers the flexibility to change interfaces to meet the needs of each test system setup.
Open software programming environments give engineers the flexibility to develop test systems in programming languages they already know. Providing easy transition into Excel or popular programming languages such as Visual Basic, C, LabVIEW, Agilent VEE Pro and Visual C++ lets engineers focus on the results of test devices instead of the code.
Agilent Open offers the following products:
Basic instruments such as switches, function generators, modular power supplies and digital multimeters meet a variety of test needs, providing the flexibility to customize systems with mix-and-match modularity.
Signal generators, spectrum analyzers, power meters and power sensors provide measurement versatility through extended test ranges and performance levels.
Easy-to-use software tools, including Agilent VEE Pro, a graphical program that replaces tedious code, and Agilent Toolkit 2.0, which extends Visual Studio with everything needed to develop programs, connect to instruments, sequence tests and generate graphs and tabular results.
I/O products and software, such as Agilent's I/O Library Suite 14.0, automatically recognize each instrument on the network, regardless of manufacturer, and enable the test engineer to immediately send instrument commands to validate every I/O connection, taking 10 minutes instead of days.
Agilent Open's support of industry standards will enable current LAN-based instrumentation and future modular, LAN-based instrumentation (coming from standards organizations such as the LXI Consortium) to quickly and easily integrate into any test system.
Further Information
A complete list of products, in addition to the Agilent Open Test System Developer's Guide covering I/O, drivers, hardware and software, is available at www.agilent.com/find/OPENinfo.
Those interested in joining Agilent's Test-System Developer Community to help simplify test-system integration may sign up at www.agilent.com/find/sdg_signup.
Additional information about the LXI Consortium is available at www.lxistandard.org.
About Agilent Open
Agilent Open simplifies the process of connecting and programming test systems to help engineers design, validate and manufacture electronic products. Agilent combines a broad range of system-ready instruments, open industry software, PC-standard I/O and global support to accelerate test system development. For more information, see: www.agilent.com/find/open.
About Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is a global technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company's 28,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenue of $7.2 billion in fiscal year 2004. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.
Contact:
Janet Smith, Agilent
+1 970 679 5397
janet_smith@agilent.com
