National Instruments Announces Most Significant LabWindows/CVI Upgrade to Date.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NIWeek

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 2003

New Integrated Workspace, Code-Generating I/O and DAQ

Assistants Streamline ANSI C Development

National Instruments (Nasdaq:NATI) today announced NI LabWindows/CVI 7.0, the most significant release of the company's proven ANSI C development environment for test and measurement in its 15-year history. LabWindows/CVI 7.0 features a fully integrated workspace, code-generating hardware configuration assistants and a redesigned data acquisition interface to dramatically speed development while delivering the flexibility, performance and long-term reliability of ANSI C programming.

"The new integrated workspace presents an even more professional front end to an already excellent product," said John Barlow, senior test development engineer at Nokia Mobile Phones. "Now, everything you need is in one place, so finding specific code or library windows is a breeze. The function prototype display is an excellent addition, making the code-writing experience much easier."

The integrated LabWindows/CVI workspace is designed for optimal productivity, particularly in large applications containing multiple source and project files. The environment provides easy access to built-in measurement libraries, a comprehensive project view, dynamic reference information and a structured function library. The LabWindows/CVI 7.0 environment also includes a Web-integrated Example Finder to access and sort more than 250 examples delivered with the product, and thousands more on the Web created by the established LabWindows/CVI community.

LabWindows/CVI 7.0 incorporates significant NI software platform advancements recently introduced in LabVIEW 7 Express to simplify and dramatically speed instrument control. LabWindows/CVI 7.0 features the Instrument I/O Assistant to deliver direct I/O connectivity to GPIB, USB, Serial, VXI and other traditional instruments. Engineers can use this code-generating assistant to easily prototype instrument control systems and take quick measurements.

"Initial instrument communication and data parsing often constitute 80 percent of an instrumentation application. Now the LabWindows/CVI Instrument I/O Assistant takes care of these tasks," said Ray Almgren, NI vice president of product strategy. "This is just one of the major new developments in LabWindows/CVI 7.0 that dramatically increases the productivity of ANSI C programming for test and measurement development."

LabWindows/CVI 7.0 also features NI-DAQ 7, the new NI data acquisition interface that speeds performance by a factor of 10 to 20 times for concurrent and single-point I/O. LabWindows/CVI gives engineers low-level, direct access to this interface through built-in libraries, or engineers can use the DAQ Assistant to interface to the NI-DAQ 7 driver for interactively adding custom timing, scaling and triggering into data acquisition tasks with minimal programming.

LabWindows/CVI 7.0 also includes:

-- Function panel editor enhancements - new custom I/O data

acquisition controls, XML conversion and header-to-function

panel conversion tools to simplify creation of function panels

-- Expanded user interface library - new, full-featured tree-view

control with image, marks and column capabilities; graph

legend control; and open GL plotting

-- Enhanced debugging capabilities - name completion identifiers,

function prototype tool tips and a quick search feature that

increase code productivity

-- Simplified search features - customizable shortcut keys and an

integrated program browser for easily searching multiple files

-- New graph control enhancements - plot smoothing, antialiasing,

built-in DataSocket binding and a second x-axis to more

effectively present measurement data

For more information about LabWindows/CVI 7.0, readers can visit www.ni.com/lwcvi/launch.htm.

About National Instruments

National Instruments (www.ni.com) is a technology pioneer and leader in virtual instrumentation -- a revolutionary concept that has changed the way engineers and scientists approach measurement and automation. Leveraging the PC and its related technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs for customers worldwide through easy-to-integrate software, such as the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment, and modular hardware, such as PXI modules for data acquisition, instrument control and machine vision. 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.

Readers may obtain investment information from the company's investor relations department at 512-683-5090, by sending e-mail to [e-mail] or on the Web at www.ni.com/nati.

Pricing and Contact Information

LabWindows/CVI 7.0
Priced from $995
http://ni.com/cvi

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

LabWindows/CVI(tm), NI(tm) and ni.com(tm) are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.