3 Reasons You Need Our Academic Site License

Originally published on the official National Instruments Blog.

Between the rising expenses of classes, textbooks, and mandatory tech, students and university programs need all the help they can get. Our Academic Site License (ASL) lets your academic institution partner with us to provide students, professors, and researchers with access to software, learning materials, and online courses.

Real World Experience

An ASL gives students access to tactile experiences that build their intrinsic engineering knowledge. Just ask Naval Academy professor John Roth.

His partnership with us provided his students with knowledge and hands-on experience that wouldn’t be possible without an ASL.

One project in particular involved launching a weather balloon, collaboratively built by the students. His project used the strongest benefits of an ASL, providing students with hands-on application that left them a real sense of accomplishment.

See for yourself: 

Better use of lab time

More experimentation; less set up. Installing our software on lab computers andstudent’s laptops allows pre-lab assignments or code up experiments to be completed when it works best for students.

For Roth, this meant assigning work outside class and allowing students to focus on the application in the lab. Building up familiarity and proficiency with the platform ahead of time let students focus on more demanding challenges in the lab, producing higher quality projects by the end of the semester.

Time efficiency through central IT management
Managing multiple single seat licenses, with individual start and end dates, varying access toolkits and modules, and separate costs puts a large burden on your IT department.

Bringing your licensing maintenance and management together under a single roof saves significant IT manpower. Our licensing software lets you integrate with industry standard license managers to provide one central place to maintain, manage and distribute licenses to your end users.

ASL owners also get access to the majority of LabVIEW toolkits and modules, as well as all previous versions. This lowers compatibility conflicts with older systems and streamlines collaboration with other NI software users inside and outside your university.

Success at a fraction of the full cost

Suited to teaching, research or student design, the software included in the ASL would cost more than ten time as much if purchased as individual licenses. Unhindered access to the significant majority of our software lets you build any application for a single, low price.

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With his ASL, Professor Roth guaranteed access to specialized tools like LabVIEW Communications, specifically for prototyping wireless systems.

When the balloon launched required students out on the road to troubleshoot and provide on-the-go analysis from a chase vehicle using HAM Radio and USRP. None of this would have been possible without taking LabVIEW outside the laboratory.

Every student. Every lab. Every researcher.

An Academic Site License is a student, instructor, and researcher’s best path to using our software.

Pursue a site license at your academic institution >>

Already have an ASL? Visit the Courseware Portal to ensure you have the latest version of all the software and take advantage of the latest courseware available.

Meet Nigel, our snarky but wise mascot

Originally published on the National Instruments blog.

Our official mascot Nigel helps out and hypes us up, and now it’s time for him to make his public debut. He’ll be attending NIWeek, and we had a chance to sit down, talk with him, and let him share with the world who he really is.

Tell us about yourself.

BWAWK. SKWAAAAK. CAAAAAW

Oh, sorry, you’re a human, I keep forgetting you don’t speak Eaglish.

I’m Nigel the Eagle. That’s first name Nigel the, last name Eagle. I go by Nigel for short (though I was nameless until 2006 but that’s a whole ‘nother story). I have existed behind the scenes here at NI for a while, answering employee questions on my FAQ blog and showing up at company meetings, but now they want me to talk to people.

You may know me from that one episode of “Planet Earth” or the NI logo (yes, my wings are actually N-shaped; I’m self-conscious and don’t like to talk about it).

I enable scientists and engineers to battle programming foes and tackle the greatest engineering riddles of our day. Essentially, I am the Batman of Engineering, to understate things.
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How does it feel to be the mascot for NI?

Personally, I enjoy it! The people are great, our products are awesome and I have a MASSIVE nest in a rent-controlled tree on our gorgeous tech campus. Honestly, they should probably be paying me just to live near them. It is truly is an honor. For them.

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How do you show team spirit and unity for NI?

Well, I generally consider myself a hype guy. I dance, wave my arms, take pictures, and pose for pictures.

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Don’t worry, I’ll give you plenty of time to recover after seeing that picture.

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I’ll also be at NIWeek this year, meeting some of you humans. (Don’t be shy if you see me, the camera loves me!)

Sometimes I get worn out doing this, and then I remember how much better your day gets after meeting me, and I push on.

My primary job is to inspire NIers to crush our competition with the best software-centric platform around. And by crush, I mean this:

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Do you have a technical background?

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Yes, absolutely. I studied for four years at the Fowl Institute of Technology, and got a Flyer’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. I graduated top of my class, with a world-record 12 AWPPM…that’s Average Words Pecked Per Minute, mind you. Pecking is slow business.

What is your favorite NI product?

Is this a question?

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LabVIEW, duh. Wait, do you know what LabVIEW is? It’s a development environment to accelerate the productivity of engineers and scientists. With a graphical programming syntax that makes engineering systems simple, LabVIEW is unmatched in helping you reduce test times, deliver business insights based on collected data, and translate ideas into reality.

Copy and paste is a useful tactic when it takes forever to type (don’t even ask how I go about pressing ctrl+c).

I have a program I created in LabVIEW which uses systems of differential equations and large-scale statistical data to determine the best place to find worms each day. Humans use Google Maps or Waze (AHAHAHAHA I guess some people use Apple Maps too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), and I use a custom-programmed LabVIEW system to know where I’m going.

Do you have anything else to say?

Yes! Come find me during NIWeek! We can meet up and talk about our favorite fish and our favorite programming practices. It’ll be great.

I’ll be even more excited if I spot you wearing one of the t-shirts we’re giving out at the Software Pavilion. You can learn more about that here.

Ok, I’m going to go sleep now, it took me two days to type this (voice-to-text is nice but Siri doesn’t know Eaglish).

Announcing: ATE Core Configurations

Originally published on the National Instruments blog.

We’re excited to announce ATE Core Configurations, providing mechanical, safety, and power infrastructure – all in one.

The problem for test organizations

Test orgs often employ standardization to ensure high product quality at increasingly low costs. Standardization optimizes the cost and unique value of a company, in an era of converged devices.

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Standardization requires test organizations to find:

  • A common set of instruments for stimulating and measuring signals from their device
  • Safety infrastructure that adheres to global standards
  • Power infrastructure that can receive power in any grid
  • Test executive for scripting measurements and reporting
  • Robust mechanical infrastructure

In addition, companies need to find the right vendors to globally support their systems and manage the lifecycle of each component.

Our solution: ATE Core Configurations

ATE Core Configurations help you lower your total cost of designing, procuring, owning, deploying, and maintaining test systems!

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Instead of forcing the you to track down hundreds of components from a slew of vendors, our ATE Core Configurations provide mechanical, safety, and power infrastructure all in one. They’re complemented by our industry-leading modular PXI hardware (more than 600 modules from DC to mmWave) and powered by our complete software portfolio, led by TestStand and LabVIEW.

You can leverage ATE Core Configurations as the platform for your standardization efforts. They give you the opportunity to customize as needed for each geography, department, or product line within your company.

How you can benefit from ATE Core Configurations

Our advisors put the convenience of customization in your hands and our manufacturing team will factory-install all equipment as you specify. Plus, the preinstalled software on the system controller will save valuable time.

After assembled, we package ATE Core Configurations in ruggedized shipping containers and deliver to your doorstep with the fast lead times you’ve come to expect from us. And if you need a turn-key system delivered and maintained, our global network of Alliance Partners is standing by to meet your needs!

Check out our new ATE Core Configurations >>>

Announcing: LabVIEW NXG. Faster measurements. Instant insight. Programming optional.

Originally published on the National Instruments blog.

The future of LabVIEW is here.

We’re excited to announce LabVIEW NXG 1.0, which introduces an efficient, non-programming workflow to LabVIEW – letting you spend more time on innovation than implementation!

With our next-gen software-centric platform, your applications can scale to meet the continually rising demand.

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Key benefits of LabVIEW NXG

For both programmers and non-programmers alike, LabVIEW NXG bridges the gap between configuration-based software and custom programming languages, giving you the tools to increase your productivity and your breakthroughs.

  • Faster measurements. Streamlined, non-programming workflows simplify discovery, installation, verification, and optimization.
  • Instant insight. Interactive data management lets you explore results and apply iterative analysis with a single click.
  • Programming optional. Innovative new approach to measurement giving you more time to focus on solving challenges rather than programming.

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So, what’s the transition to LabVIEW NXG like?

Worried about getting acclimated to new features and concepts? Never fear. LabVIEW NXG includes a native learning system teaches you engineering concepts while simultaneously familiarizing you with the environment. Workspace orientation will familiarize you with the new capabilities, and our interactive lessons provide example code and workbooks to guide you through engineering concepts and theory.

And who can use LabVIEW NXG, vs LabVIEW 2017, or both?

LabVIEW NXG 1.0 is available to all users active in the LabVIEW Standard Service Program (SSP) – and any new purchases of LabVIEW will include both LabVIEW 2017 and LabVIEW NXG 1.0. Which means you get the best of both worlds.

By providing faster measurements, instant insights, and a simplified user experience, your productivity will skyrocket. The next generation of technology is here.

Discover the future of LabVIEW, and what LabVIEW can do for you >>>