NI Measurement Studio 8.1 Simplifies Remote Monitoring and Control.

Engineers Now Can Remotely Monitor and Control Distributed Measurement Systems

AUSTIN, Texas -- National Instruments (Nasdaq:NATI) today announced the release of NI Measurement Studio 8.1, a comprehensive suite of class libraries and user interface controls for test, measurement and automation applications built using Microsoft Visual Studio. Measurement Studio 8.1 simplifies and accelerates remote monitoring and control with new network variables that help engineers communicate between Microsoft Windows or Web-based applications and remote test machines. Measurement Studio 8.1 also introduces new user interface controls and extended graph functionality to help engineers better inspect acquired data.

Engineers can combine new network variables featured in Measurement Studio 8.1 with Microsoft ASP.NET Web Forms controls originally introduced in Measurement Studio 8.0 to extend remote monitoring and control capabilities. ASP.NET controls give engineers the infrastructure to create dynamic Web pages that they can view from Web-enabled devices such as PDAs, smart phones and Linux([R]), Mac OS or Microsoft Windows machines. Network variables publish or subscribe to measurement data acquired from remote systems designed in Microsoft Visual Basic 2005, Microsoft Visual C# 2005, National Instruments LabWindows([TM])/CVI or NI LabVIEW. This combination gives engineers the power to create Web interfaces for real-time or Windows distributed test systems.

"With Measurement Studio 8.1, National Instruments gives engineers the technology to create distributed applications faster and easier than ever," said Jay Roxe, group product manager in the Developer Division at Microsoft Corp. "The combination of network variables in Measurement Studio and the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 helps engineers create distributed applications that connect manufacturing and engineering business units to management systems around the world."

Measurement Studio 8.1 also delivers new user interface enhancements to help engineers better acquire, analyze and present their measurement data. The new interactive run-time controls give engineers the option to modify control settings while their applications are running, making it easy for them to customize their user experiences and enhance their interactions with their applications. In addition, Measurement Studio 8.1 delivers enhancements such as error bands on the Microsoft .NET Framework-based graphs and the ability to add cursors, annotations and tooltips to the Complex Graph to help engineers improve the documentation and visual inspection of their data.

Measurement Studio dramatically reduces application development time by giving engineers a single environment for creating test, measurement and automation applications in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 and integrating them with a wide variety of I/O.

About National Instruments

For 30 years, National Instruments (www.ni.com) has been a technology pioneer and leader in virtual instrumentation - a revolutionary concept that has changed the way engineers and scientists in industry, government and academia approach measurement and automation. Leveraging PCs and commercial technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs for test, control and design applications through easy-to-integrate software, such as NI LabVIEW, and modular measurement and control hardware for PXI, PXI Express, PCI, PCI Express, USB and Ethernet. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 4,000 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries. For the past seven years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.

Readers can obtain investment information from the company's investor relations department by calling 512-683-5090, e-mailing [e-mail] or visiting www.ni.com/nati.

Pricing and Contact Information

NI Measurement Studio 8.1
Priced from $499; [euro]515; [yen]70,000
Web: www.ni.com/mstudio

11500 N Mopac Expwy, Austin, Texas 78759-3504
Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

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