National Instruments Acquires Design Automation Company Electronics Workbench
National Instruments (Nasdaq:NATI) today announced the acquisition of Toronto, Canada-based Electronics Workbench, a leading supplier of electronics design automation software. The Electronics Workbench flagship product, Multisim circuit simulation software, is widely used for electronic circuit design, board layout and electrical engineering training programs by companies and academic institutions including Sony, Boeing, MIT and DeVry. The acquisition strengthens the integration between functional test and design tools and will advance graphical system design technology.
“Our customers are not satisfied with the integration of design, simulation and test tools in the industry today,” said Ray Almgren, NI vice president of product marketing and academic relations. “A graphical system design platform that integrates these disparate tools will increase productivity and make testing throughout the design process more seamless. Our acquisition of Electronics Workbench is a major step forward in making this vision a reality and satisfying the needs of the design engineering community in industry and academia.”
For several years, Electronics Workbench and National Instruments have collaborated to integrate Multisim with the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment through downloadable software and technical resources that have helped thousands of engineers quickly design, simulate and validate electronic circuits. The Electronics Workbench acquisition adds graphical design and simulation software to the National Instruments platform of graphical development tools.
“We migrated to Multisim last year because it is a superior tool for teaching electronic circuits and because students can use it to easily integrate their simulations into LabVIEW,” said Dr. Archie Holmes, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, one of the leading institutions for engineering education. “The complex design of current and future systems demands a higher level of integration among design, simulation and test tools. This acquisition provides a closer link among these tools, which helps us better prepare our students to serve the growing demands of the market.”
NI will retain all Electronics Workbench employees and continue to operate the company as a separate entity in Toronto, Canada. National Instruments and Electronics Workbench development teams will work to further integrate the products and knowledge of the two companies. As a wholly owned subsidiary of NI, Electronics Workbench plans to continue to develop and offer its complete line of design automation software and directly support educational initiatives with uninterrupted support to participating schools. The acquisition is not expected to have a material impact on National Instruments earnings for the first quarter of 2005.
For additional information, industry professionals can visit www.ni.com/design/eda.htm and academic users, www.ni.com/academic/companion_products_ewb.htm .
About Electronics Workbench
Electronics Workbench develops and markets desktop electronic design automation (EDA) software used by educators and design engineers around the world. The company’s circuit board design system incorporates schematic capture; patented co-simulation of analog and digital circuits using SPICE and VHDL; RF design tools; constraint-driven PCB layout and autorouting; and CAM verification tools. Since 1984, the company has also produced economical products that are highly effective in educational environments and easily integrated into engineering curriculum. Headquartered in Toronto, Electronics Workbench has approximately 50 employees with sales and support offices in North America and Europe and distribution partners in more than 32 countries around the world. Readers can reach the company at 416-977-5550, or at www.electronicsworkbench.com .
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 in industry, government and academia approach measurement and automation. Leveraging the PC and its related technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs 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 3,400 employees and direct operations in 41 countries. In 2003, the company sold products to more than 25,000 companies in 90 countries. For the past six years, FORTUNE magazine 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 by calling 512-683-5090, by sending e-mail to [email]nati@ni.com[/email] or by 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.” 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.
