---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash National Instruments Ports to Sun SunFLASH Vol 45 #2 September 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS' LABVIEW SOFTWARE PORTED TO SUN SPARC SYSTEMS Software Simplifies Development of Laboratory and Testing Applications MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- September 1, 1992 -- Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) and National Instruments Corporation today announced that National Instruments has ported its industry-leading LabVIEW graphical programming software to the Sun SPARC platform. The availability of LabVIEW software for Sun systems gives users a powerful, easy-to-use tool for creating programs in automated testing and laboratory research applications. This is the first UNIX port for LabVIEW and should help National Instruments better penetrate the burgeoning workgroup computing market that Sun dominates. Introduced in 1986, LabVIEW simplifies software development by allowing users to assemble programs from block diagrams instead of using conventional text-based programming techniques. Using LabVIEW, engineers and scientists can concentrate on running test programs instead of creating them. The resulting programs, which feature customized graphical user interface panels, are used to acquire, analyze and present data from a variety of instruments, including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers and spectrum analyzers. National Instruments has been a leading supplier of instrument interface boards and software drivers for the Sun platform since 1987. In porting to Sun systems, National Instruments is taking LabVIEW to a new class of user - those in technical workgroups who demand more compute power, connectivity and functionality than provided by Macintosh and other personal computers. For example, SPARCstation systems can be linked easily with computers from other vendors, a growing requirement in today's laboratories and factories. In addition, the workstations' superior compute power permits quick analysis of large amounts of data. Finally, the multitasking capability of the workstations enables users to monitor and analyze data from several instruments and to run other applications simultaneously on a single screen. "UNIX workstations are perfectly suited to the needs of engineering and scientific workgroups," said Jack Barber, LabVIEW marketing manager at National Instruments. "We chose Sun over other workstation vendors because of the robust version of UNIX included in the Solaris operating environment, the SPARC platform's price/performance and Sun's large installed base." "We expect most initial sales of LabVIEW for Sun systems to be in the test and measurement area," said Mario Dal Canto, director of technical and industrial market development for SMCC. "Chip and board designers, for example, will be able to carry out both design and test functions on one platform, opening the door to true concurrent engineering." The LabVIEW/SPARC combination also is expected to be popular in research and product development laboratories, where equipment from both Sun and National Instruments is prevalent, in manufacturing testing and in process monitoring and control. In addition, LabVIEW is expected to find uses in education, robotics, vision inspection and physiological monitoring. LabVIEW for Sun systems is available now from National Instruments for $3,995 for a single-user, floating license. Multi-user site licensing is also available. Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc., is the world's leading supplier of client-server computing solutions, which feature networked workstations and servers that store, process and distribute information. Used for many demanding commercial and technical applications, SMCC's products command the largest share of the computer industry's fastest-growing market segment: workstations and servers. Sun Microsystems, Inc., founded in 1982 and headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a multi-billion dollar corporation doing business worldwide. National Instruments, headquartered in Austin, Texas for 16 years, manufactures software and hardware products used by engineers and scientists to build integrated instrument systems using industry-standard personal computers and workstations. Data can be acquired with any combination of plug-in data acquisition boards and GPIB, RS-232 and VXI instruments. The LabVIEW and LabWindows for DOS application software packages have extensive libraries for developing intuitive graphical control panels, analyzing acquired data and presenting it. These products are used worldwide in automated test, process monitoring and control, factory automation, robotics, image processing, vision inspection, laboratory automation, physiological monitoring and personal instrumentation. Press Contact: Robert Manetta at (415) 336-0979. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu, paris.cs.miami.edu, uunet.uu.net, src.doc.ic.ac.uk and ftp.adelaide.edu.au All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.