National Instruments to Host 12th NIWeek Virtual Instrumentation Conference.

AUSTIN, Texas -- National Instruments (Nasdaq:NATI) today announced plans for its 12th annual customer and technology conference. NIWeek, the world's leading virtual instrumentation conference and exhibition, opens Aug. 8 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, for three days of interactive summits, exhibitions, technical sessions and hands-on workshops on the latest technologies for test, control and design applications.

"Every year, thousands of engineers and scientists come to NIWeek to learn from industry experts and fellow users about the most recent products and solutions for virtual instrumentation," said Dr. James Truchard, NI CEO, president and cofounder. "At NIWeek 2006, we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of National Instruments and 20 years of LabVIEW development with anniversary receptions, our most comprehensive conference program and presentations and exhibits from some of the most successful companies in the world."

NIWeek 2006 hosts world-renowned speakers including Truchard, who takes a look back at 30 years of innovation and, as chief NI product strategist and visionary, provides a glimpse of where technology will go in the next 30 years. Also, Dean Kamen, president of DEKA Research & Development Corporation, discusses the importance of programs and organizations such as FIRST Robotics and FIRST LEGO(R) League and the innovative uses of NI LabVIEW and virtual instrumentation in these organizations.

The Conference features more than 170 technical sessions including hands-on workshops, case studies, user applications and panel discussions from companies such as Apple, Boeing, Ford, Intel and Texas Instruments. These sessions highlight innovative approaches to solving design, test and measurement challenges and showcase the latest virtual instrumentation products. The conference program provides attendees with training opportunities and the chance to discover advanced measurement and analysis techniques while networking with industry peers. The conference also features four summits on graphical system design, vision, RF and wireless communications and sound and vibration.

The Graphical System Design (GSD) Summit showcases LabVIEW as a single graphical platform for designing, prototyping and deploying embedded systems through case studies and presentations by experts including BMW, General Motors and the University of California at Berkeley. The Vision Summit features advanced image acquisition strategies, embedded vision programming and nonvisible imaging with lighting, optics and camera experts such as Edmund Optics and Sony. The RF and Wireless Communications Summit includes presentations by industry leaders Freescale Semiconductor and National Semiconductor that cover the latest advances in algorithm development and present tools that are enabling design, development and test of RF and wireless communications products in a rapidly changing environment. Finally, the Sound and Vibration Summit focuses on industrial vibration and diagnostics, automotive noise and vibration design and audio and electroacoustics test with experts such as G.R.A.S. Sound & Vibration and PCB Piezotronics.

The NIWeek 2006 exhibition features more than 200 exhibitors showcasing the most innovative implementations of virtual instrumentation. On the expo floor, attendees can meet face-to-face with engineers from a wide range of industries, try out the latest virtual instrumentation products and see next-generation innovations in action. The exhibition also features three pavilions. The PXI Technology and Applications Pavilion focuses on new applications for PXI Express and how the industry is using PXI. The Technical Data Management Pavilion highlights NI DIAdem and managing data across enterprises, while the Learning with LabVIEW Pavilion addresses the academic market.

Readers can get more information about NIWeek 2006, register for the event or sign up to exhibit at www.ni.com/niweek.

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 3,800 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.

DIAdem, LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, ni.com and NIWeek are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.