Probing Station verifies design of printed circuit assemblies.

Huntron, Inc. May 27, 2003

Press Release Summary:

Huntron Access, when coupled with National Instrument's Labview, can integrate with general purpose ATE measuring equipment. Open-architectured, automated probing station delivers accuracy and performance of ProTrack probers with freedom to use additional general-purpose test equipment. It is suited for applications where circuit card is in powered up state.

Original Press Release:

New Open Architecture Automated Probing Station Accelerates Design Verification of Printed Circuit Assemblies

Mill Creek, Washington, April 15, 2003 - Huntron, Inc., a supplier of tools for engineers and technicians who test, diagnose, and troubleshoot printed circuit assemblies, announced a new product, the Huntron Access. The Huntron Access is an open architecture automated probing station and when coupled with National Instrument's Labview can integrate with general purpose ATE measuring equipment.

The Automated Probing Station was developed as a result of many customer requests who desired the accuracy and performance of the ProTrack probers but the freedom to use other general purpose test equipment, primarily applications where the circuit card is in a powered up state. Huntron Access satisfies a real need for automation in Engineering where verification of new circuit assemblies is common to the board development process.

The Huntron Access initial demonstration application uses a National Instruments Virtual Meter Card that communicates to the probing station through Labview. The software drivers and application were written by Randy Schmidt of Ideal Aerosmith Inc. of East Grand Forks, Minnesota. "The drivers and application coding were standard, however as an integrator, the many potential applications made this project unique." reports Randy. "Our company intends to not only be an approved source for Huntron Access applications, but we plan to show this product to a number of our customers".

About Huntron, Ideal Aerosmith and National Instruments

Huntron (http://Huntron.com), founded in 1976, is a supplier of tools for engineers and technicians who test, diagnose and troubleshoot printed circuit assemblies. Our products enable physical and virtual access to printed circuit assemblies, helping users find and repair the elusive problems conventional methods often miss.

As density and complexity increase, printed circuit assemblies become tougher for standardized equipment to probe and test. Huntron complements conventional equipment with access and test tools that catch the elusive problems other methods often miss. The keys are physical and virtual access, which translate into meaningful results such as shorter design cycles, improved production yields and lower warranty costs. When you need to test, diagnose or troubleshoot complex circuit boards, Huntron lets you access, explore and discover more.

Ideal Aerosmith(http://ideal-aerosmith.com), founded in 1938, is a leading manufacturing of custom test solutions and precision motion control test systems for aerospace and industrial customers. Ideal Aerosmith designs and builds Single and Multi-Axis Rate and Positioning Table Systems that are used for the inspection, evaluation, qualification and calibration testing of inertial sensors including gyroscopic components, accelerometers and motion sensor systems. It is a privately held company with headquarters in East Grand Forks MN and offices in Phoenix AZ, Redmond WA, Olathe KS, and Pomona CA.

For more than 26 years, National Instruments (http://ni.com) has revolutionized the way engineers and scientists work by delivering virtual instrumentation solutions built on rapidly advancing commercial technologies, including industry-standard computers and the Internet. NI increases productivity for customers worldwide by delivering easy-to-integrate software, such as the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment, and modular hardware, such as PXI modules for data acquisition and instrumentation. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3,000 employees and direct operations in 40 countries. In 2002, the company sold products to more than 25,000 different companies in more than 80 countries around the world. For the past four consecutive years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.