NI Introduces Industry's Highest Performance PXI Express Synchronization Module and Industry's Fastest PXI Express Remote Controller

AUSTIN, Texas, May 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- National Instruments (Nasdaq: NATI) today announced two PXI Express products that extend the platform's performance and capabilities, especially for multichassis systems. The NI PXIe-6674T timing module is the industry's highest performance timing and synchronization module, and the NI PXIe-PCIe8388 controller is the industry's first 8 GB/s/direction remote controller. Engineers can use the new products to create high-performance PXI Express systems with tight synchronization and high system data throughput.

"NI worked with the PXI Systems Alliance to introduce PXI in 1997 and continues to be a leader in pushing the platform's performance with the introduction of these new PXI Express products," said Eric Starkloff, NI vice president of product marketing. "The new timing module is the first in the market to provide access to the advanced PXI Express timing and synchronization features for best-in-class clock and trigger routing for synchronizing PXI. The new remote controller interfaces PXI Express systems using the fastest cabled PCI Express link to double the throughput for high-speed data streaming applications."

The NI PXIe-6674T timing module unlocks the most advanced timing and synchronization capabilities for PXI Express systems. It generates and routes clocks and triggers between devices in a PXI Express chassis. It also can externally route signals to other PXI and PXI Express chassis or third-party instrumentation. The timing module can generate two types of clock signals. The first is a highly stable 10 MHz clock based on an onboard precision OCXO reference with a 50 ppb accuracy. The second is a clock up to 1 GHz with µHz resolution from the direct digital synthesis (DDS) clock generation circuit. It also features advanced trigger and timing routing with PXIe_DSTAR differential star trigger lines that offer less than 500 ps skews and 10 ns of delays.

The NI PXIe-PCIe8388 kit uses a x16 Gen 2 PCI Express link that provides up to 8 GB/s/direction of sustained throughput. Engineers can use the NI PXIe-PCIe8388 remote controller to control PXI Express systems from a x16 Gen 2 PCI Express slot in an NI rack-mount controller. For example, the remote controller works with the new NI RMC-8354 (which features an Intel® Core i7™ processor) through a fully transparent, high-bandwidth cabled PCI Express link. With this level of data throughput performance, the remote controller is eight times faster than the company's existing remote controllers. The remote controller also features a downstream port to create high-performance, multichassis systems by connecting to other PXI Express chassis as well as to other enclosures with general-purpose graphical processing units (GP-GPUs) for added computational ability.

Both new products work with NI software, such as the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment, as well as NI hardware, such as modular instruments.

Readers can learn more about the new PXI Express products by visiting www.ni.com/pxi.

About National Instruments

National Instruments (www.ni.com) is transforming the way engineers and scientists design, prototype and deploy systems for measurement, automation and embedded applications. NI empowers customers with off-the-shelf software such as NI LabVIEW and modular cost-effective hardware, and sells to a broad base of more than 30,000 different companies worldwide, with its largest customer representing approximately 4 percent of revenue in 2010 and no one industry representing more than 15 percent of revenue. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has approximately 5,500 employees and direct operations in more than 40 countries. For the past 12 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 [email protected] or visiting www.ni.com/nati.

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

SOURCE National Instruments