National Instruments Introduces First PXI Express Modules and High-Bandwidth Controllers; New NI M Series Data Acquisition Modules and Controllers Increase System Bandwidth to 1 GB/s.

AUSTIN, Texas -- National Instruments (Nasdaq: NATI) today announced the industry's first data acquisition (DAQ) modules for PXI Express, the NI PXIe-6259 and NI PXIe-6251 M Series modules, which deliver fast analog and digital I/O with up to 250 MB/s dedicated per-slot bandwidth. In addition to the new PXI Express DAQ modules, NI announced four PXI Express controllers. The remote, embedded and rack-mount controllers are the industry's highest-bandwidth controllers with up to 1 GByte/s system and slot bandwidth. PXI Express offers the industry's highest bandwidth and highest-performance timing and synchronization capabilities as well as software and hardware compatibility with the large installed base of existing PXI systems.

The new PXI Express M Series DAQ modules feature up to 32 analog channels with 16 bit, 1.25 MS/s sampling speed; up to four analog output channels with 16 bit, 2.8 MS/s update rates; and 10 MHz digital I/O on up to 32 lines. As with other NI M Series DAQ devices, the new PXI Express modules feature the NI-STC 2 system controller, the NI-PGIA 2 amplifier and NI-MCal calibration technology for increased performance, accuracy and I/O. They are ideal for high-channel-count data acquisition, high-speed control and manufacturing test applications.

With two new NI MXI-Express remote controllers, the NI PXIe-PCIe8371/2 x4 ("by four" -- a link comprised of four PCI Express lanes), engineers can control PXI Express and CompactPCI Express systems from a PC equipped with PCI Express through a fully transparent, high-bandwidth cabled PCI Express link. The x4 MXI-Express remote controllers provide 1 GB/s total system bandwidth and are ideal for high-frequency and high-resolution applications. The NI PXIe-PCIe8371 features a cabled PCI Express link from a PC to one PXI Express chassis and the NI PXIe-PCIe8372 has two cabled PCI Express links to simultaneously control two PXI Express chassis for a higher channel count. This bandwidth, the best in the industry, represents a more than eight times improvement compared to other industry-standard cable interfaces such as Hi-Speed USB, Gigabit Ethernet/LAN, GPIB (HS488), MXI-2 and MXI-3.

The new NI PXIe-8105 x4 dual-core embedded controller also offers up to 1 GB/s system bandwidth and 1 GB/s slot bandwidth and features a 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo processor T2500. With two computing engines in one physical processor, a dual-core processor can simultaneously execute two tasks, which makes it ideal for multitasking environments, such as Windows XP, and multithreaded applications, such as the National Instruments LabVIEW graphical development platform. Engineers can use the NI PXIe-8105 controller for analysis-intensive applications such as communications test.

Finally, the NI PXIe-8351 x4 dual-core rack-mount controller is a 1U PXI Express controller that uses a cabled PCI Express connection to the PXI Express system. The NI PXIe-8351 controller features a 3.0 GHz dual-core Intel Pentium D processor 830, dual Gigabit Ethernet and SATA II RAID-0 hard drive configurations for applications requiring high-speed streaming to disk, such as acoustic imaging and RF spectral monitoring. The rack-mount controller offers up to 1 GB/s system bandwidth.

The new PXI Express modules and controllers work with all existing PXI modules and software. Engineers can use existing code written for the NI LabVIEW graphical development platform, NI LabWindows/CVI ANSI C development environment and NI Measurement Studio for Microsoft Visual Studio with these new products.

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, PCI, PCI Express, USB and Ethernet. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3,900 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 PXIe-6259 and NI PXIe-6251 M Series modules priced from $1,149
NI PXIe-PCIe8371/2 x4 remote controllers priced from $1,799
NI PXIe-8105 x4 dual-core embedded controller priced from $4,499
NI PXIe-8351 x4 dual-core rack-mount controller priced from $5,299
Web: www.ni.com/pxi/pxie.htm

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