LXI Test Market to Grow 24 Percent, Forecasts Frost & Sullivan

A recent technology analyst research report from Frost & Sullivan (F&S), a leading marketing research firm, documents widespread adoption of the emerging LXI Standard and forecasts a growth rate that far exceeds the overall test market going forward.

In the 46-page “World LXI Test and Measurement Equipment Markets” report released in December 2008, F&S reported that the worldwide LXI-enabled test and measurement (T&M) equipment market generated $220.0 million in sales in 2007, which represents an 83.3 percent increase over 2006.

The report also included a forecast that the size of the world LXI market will grow as large as $650.0 million by 2012 at a compound annual growth rate of 24.2 percent. These numbers are in sharp contrast with the predicted growth in sales for GPIB instrumentation, which likely will be limited to just 3-4 percent a year in growth.

“It’s gratifying to see Frost & Sullivan, an independent technology analyst firm, document the same widespread adoption rates our members are seeing as manufacturers of LXI instrumentation,” said Von Campbell, LXI Consortium President. “We ended 2008 with a dramatic increase in LXI-compliant instruments...the case for building your next system around LXI architecture has never been more compelling.”

The report, based in part on interviews with manufacturers of LXI test equipment along with other industry experts, provides in-depth analysis of the world LXI test and measurement equipment market, including revenue forecasts, challenges, market and technology trends, and competitive analysis. More information on Frost & Sullivan and the LXI report is available at www.frost.com.

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 31 offices on six continents.
 

Version 1.3 of the LXI Specification Released

The latest version of the LXI Specification was released on October 30, 2008 and is now available on the LXI website. Revision 1.3 allows manufacturers of Class C compliant instruments to add selected Class B or Class A features to their products, giving users the benefit of an expanded selection of products with advanced features without paying for unneeded features. LXI Class C provides LAN and web server functionality while Class B and Class A provide progressively expanded functionality. The Class B and Class A features that can now be included in Class C devices include a trigger bus, event messaging, IEEE 1588 synchronization, time stamped data, and event logs. Version 1.3 of the LXI Specification is now available for download.

Consortium Board Elects a New President

The LXI Consortium Board of Directors has elected Von Campbell of Agilent Technologies as the Consortium’s new president. Campbell holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Purdue and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. Campbell joined Agilent Technologies as a development engineer in 1982. Today, he oversees Agilent’s involvement in multiple industry consortia, including LXI. During his 26 years with Agilent Technologies, Campbell has led several programs focused on general-purpose instruments, data acquisition, manufacturing test systems, connectivity software, and common instrument infrastructure.

LXI Consortium Certifies 1117 Instruments as LXI-Compliant

Growing Range of Instruments Simplifies the Creation of All-LXI Test Racks

The LXI Consortium has certified new products from two manufacturers at its February PlugFest, Magna-Power Electronics, Inc. and TTi Ltd. (Thurlby Thandar Instruments). The announcement brings the total number of commercially available LXI-compliant instruments to 1117 from 22 different manufacturers. The number of LXI-compliant instruments has grown dramatically in just a few years, starting from a handful of products from just two vendors in December 2005. This expansion in instrument availability is likely to speed widespread acceptance of the LXI platform and encourage migration to LXI from older instrument platforms.


Growth of LXI Conformant Devices

Growth of Vendors of LXI Conformant Instruments

“The acceleration in LXI adoption by manufacturers continues, and we’re pleased to see so many companies incorporating an LXI compliance product roadmap in their development plans,” said Consortium President Von Campbell.  “With approximately 100 product families now included in the LXI portfolio, it’s even easier for a test engineer to build a complete LXI instrument-based solution.”

In addition to the instrument compliance testing and other activities during the General Meeting, the Consortium’s Multi-Vendor Demo System (MVDS) working group conducted a “Virtual PlugFest,” connecting seven LXI-compliant instruments distributed throughout North America from a variety of manufacturers via a virtual private network (VPN). Tests were conducted using a National Instruments IEEE 1588v2 prototype device, Agilent IO Libraries 15.1, and National Instruments VISA 4.4.1. The MVSD working group was formed in 2005 to create demonstrations of LXI instrument interoperability and to simulate real-world tests using LXI instruments.

The next LXI General Meeting and PlugFest is scheduled for May 18-20, 2009, in Dallas, Texas.

LXI Consortium to Support IEEE Symposium in Brescia, Italy

The LXI Consortium will be a bronze-level sponsor of the IEEE International Symposium on Precision Clock Synchronization for Measurement, Control and Communication (ISPCS). The objective of the symposium is to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners from industry, academia, and government involved in the area of Precision Clock Synchronization using IEEE 1588 or similar techniques and protocols. The symposium will be held at the University of Brescia in Brescia, Italy, on October 14-16, 2009. It will follow a PlugFest event, slated for October 12-13. As one of the sponsors of the symposium, the Consortium’s logo will appear on the ISPCS website and in the symposium program.

LXI Member Logo Available to Consortium Members with Non-Certifiable Products

In addition to the standard LXI logo designed for use on hardware products that have been certified as compliant with the LXI Standard, the Consortium offers its members the right to use a special LXI Member logo. For a company to use this special Member logo on its marketing collateral (web pages, data sheets, ads, presentations, etc.), it must be a member, licensee, or authorized agent of the LXI Consortium This special logo can also be used on the marketing collateral for LXI Consortium members’ software products if these products can communicate with LXI-compliant devices. More information on how to use the LXI Member logo properly, including sizing, colors, formats, and acceptable uses, is available online at: http://www.lxistandard.org/about/patent_trademark_info/. To access the artwork for the LXI Member logo, send a request to execdir@lxistandard.org.