Today, people greatly appreciate having electrical energy available at the flip of a switch, seemingly at any time and for any occasion. But where does electricity actually come from? The answer most people would give you is: “from the wall socket, of course”. So does this automatically settle the question of security of supply? More on this later.

If we compare the history of electric current with the 75 years of the history of Camille Bauer Metrawatt AG, it is easy to see how they were interlinked at certain times in the course of their development. Why is that?

It all began with the War of the Currents – an economic dispute about a technical standard

It was around 1890 when the so-called War of the Currents started in the USA. At that time, the question was whether the direct current favoured by Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) or the alternating current promoted by Nicola Tesla (1856-1943) and financially supported by George Westinghouse (1846-1914), was the more suitable technology for supplying the United States of America with electrical energy over large areas and constructing power grids. Because of Westinghouse’s market dominance at that time compared to Edison General Electric (called General Electric from 1890 on), it soon became clear that the alternating voltage invented by Nicola Tesla was rapidly gaining the upper hand. This was not least because its approximately 25% lower transmission losses weighed unquestionably in its favour. Soon afterward, came the breakthrough for alternating voltage as the means of transmitting electrical energy using. Initially, the main target application was electric lighting, which to be spurred on by the invention of the incandescent lamp by Edison. The reasons for this were logical. Westinghouse was initially a lighting manufacturing company and wanted to secure as great a market share as possible.

As developments continued, it is no surprise that already by 1891, in Germany for example, the first long-distance transmission of electrical energy was put into operation, over a distance of more than 170 km from Lauffen am Neckar to Frankfurt am Main. It was a technological breakthrough using three-phase current technology. However, this has by no means been the end of the story for direct current. Not least because of digitalization, electromobility, decentralized energy supplies, etc., DC voltage has experienced a full-blown renaissance and now is treated almost as a brand-new topic.

The Camille Bauer story.
The foundation of the Camille Bauer company dates back to 1900, immediately after the War of the Currents just described, at a time when electricity was rapidly gaining in importance. At the turn of the century, the Camille Bauer company, named after its founder Camille Bauer-Judlin, began importing measuring instruments for the trendy new phenomenon called “electricity” into Switzerland for sale to the local market. Some years later, in 1906, Dr. Siegfried Guggenheimer (1875 – 1938), formerly a research scientist for Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845 – 1923) and who in 1901, became the first winner of the Nobel Prize for physics, founded what was a start-up company in Nuremberg, Germany, trading under his own name. The company was engaged in the production and sale of electrical measuring instruments. However, due to pressure from the Nazis because Dr. Guggenheimer was of Jewish descent, he had to rename the company in 1933, creating Metrawatt AG.

Four technological segments.

In 1919, a man by the name of Paul Gossen entered the picture. He was so dissatisfied with his employment with Dr. Guggenheimer that he founded his own company in Erlangen, near Nuremberg, and for decades the two rivals were continuously in fierce competition with one another. In 1944, towards the end of the Second World War, Camille Bauer could see that its importing business had virtually come to a standstill. All the factories of its suppliers, which were mainly in Germany (for example Hartmann & Braun, Voigt & Haeffner, Lahmeyer, etc.), had been converted to supplying materials for the war. At this point, a decision had to be made quickly. Camille Bauer’s original trading company located in Basel (CH), undertook a courageous transformation. In order to survive, it turned itself into a manufacturing company. In a first step, the recently formed manufacturing company Matter, Patocchi & Co. AG in Wohlen (CH) was taken over, in order to be get the business up and running quickly with the necessary operating resources at their disposal. Thus the Swiss manufacturing base in Wohlen in the canton of Aargau was born.

The story does not end there. In 1979, Camille Bauer was taken over by Röchling a family-owned company in Mannheim, Germany. At that time, Röchling wanted to quit the iron and steel business and enter the field of I&C technology. Later, in 1993, Gossen in Erlangen and Metrawatt in Nuremberg were reunited in a single company, after Röchling became owner of the Gossen holding company as a result of the acquisition of the Bergmann Group from Siemens in 1989, and Metrawatt was acquired from ABB in 1992. At the same time, Camille Bauer’s German sales operation in Frankfurt-Dreieich also became a part of the company. Today the companies operate globally and successfully under the umbrella brand of GMC-I (Gossen Metrawatt Camille-Bauer-Instruments).

A new era.
The physics of electric current have not changed over the course of time. However, business conditions have changed drastically, especially over the last 5-10 years. Catch phrases such as electricity free market, collective self-consumption, renewable energy sources, PV, wind power, climate targets, reduction of CO2 emissions, e-mobility, battery storage, Tesla, smart meters, digitalization, cyber security, network quality, etc. are all areas of interest for both people and companies. And last but not least, with today’s protest demonstrations, climate change has become a political issue. We will have to see what results from this. At the very least, the catch phrases mentioned above are perfect for developing scenarios for electricity supply security. And it really is the case that the traditional electricity infrastructure, which is often as old as Camille Bauer Metrawatt itself, was not designed for the new types of energy behaviour, either those on the consumer side or the decentralised feed-in side. As a result, it is ever more important to have increasing numbers of intelligent systems which need to work from basic data obtained from precise measurements in order to avoid outages, blackouts and resulting damage.

The overall diversity of these new clusters of topics has prompted Camille Bauer Metrawatt AG to once more face the challenges with courage and above all to do so in an innovative and productive way. In this spirit, Camille Bauer Metrawatt AG develops, produces and distributes its product range globally in 4 technological segments.

These are:
(1) Measurement & Display,
(2) Power Quality,
(3) Control & Monitoring,
(4) Software, Systems and Solutions.

Through its expert staff, modern tools and external partners Camille Bauer Metrawatt is able, for example, to analyse power quality and detect power quality problems. In addition, the Camille Bauer Metrawatt Academy, recently founded in 2019, puts its focus on knowledge transfer by experienced lecturers, with the latest and most important topics as its main priority. Furthermore, we keep in very close contact with customers, authorities, associations, specialist committees, educational institutions, practice-oriented experts and the scientific community in order to continually provide the requisite solutions to the market and interested parties.

#Camille_Bauer_Metrawatt #PAuto @irishpwrprocess

NIDays welcomed hundreds of delegates from across Northern Europe to the historic Sandown Park Racecourse in England in November 2017, for its annual conference and exhibition. Each event was designed to educate and inspire the engineering community. Delegates to NIDays were given exclusive access to innovative technologies and could explore NI’s latest software, in a full day of keynote speeches, technical presentations and hands-on sessions.

Northern European Engineering Impact Awards
The night before, some of Northern Europe’s best engineers attended the prestigious Engineering Impact Awards.  The well-respected Engineering Impact Awards celebrated the most innovative engineering applications based on NI hardware and software.

Coventry University’s Dr Bo Tan won ‘Application of the Year’ for his system that combines passive WiFi sensing hardware and machine learning algorithms to monitor the health, activity and well-being of patients within nursing homes, allowing staff to improve their levels of efficiency and care.

“The Northern European EIA’s were incredible this year. The breadth of applications showed what our products can do in the hands of world-class scientists and engineers!” says Dave Wilson, Vice President – Product Marketing for Software, Academia and Customer Education.

NIDays
Professors, researchers and design engineers were amongst the audience of the morning keynote ‘Testing and Deploying the Next Generation of Technology’ hosted by NI VP Dave Wilson. In this session, NI experts explained how the NI platform is accelerating innovation in applications ranging from transportation safety to the IoT.

During the afternoon keynote, Stuart Dawson, Chief Technology Officer at the University of Sheffield’s (GB) Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) was welcomed to the stage to discuss how super-trends like Industry 4.0, energy and the electrification of transportation are changing the way we live and work. Charlotte Nicolaou, Software Field Marketing Engineer, walked through how NI are continuing the LabVIEW legacy with the evolution of the world’s most productive and efficient engineering software, introducing LabVIEW NXG 2.0 and other new software releases including NI Package Manager.

Delegates had a chance to ‘dirty their hands!’

Delegates also had the opportunity to view application specific demonstrations that showcased the latest NI products and technology in the Expo Area, with plenty of NI engineers on hand to discuss their engineering challenges and technical questions. Participants also enjoyed an array of track sessions that included LabVIEW Power Programming and Test & RF Hands-On, giving users the opportunity to learn practical skills and network with specialists and peers.

Throughout the day, several guest presenters took to the stage including Jeff Morgan and Garret O’Donnell of Trinity College Dublin (IRL) and Niklas Krakau from Saab Aeronautics who discussed their incredible application enabling efficient testing of the world’s most cost-effective fighter plane, the Saab Gripen E.

Attentive Audience!

“NIDays allows us to highlight game-changing industry trends, whilst unveiling new, innovative technologies. However, it is the attendees, presenters, partners and exhibitors that provide the conference’s true highlights. What was my favourite part of the day? Learning how Coventry University is using WiFi signals to wirelessly monitor patient health through-walls? Meeting elite researchers and heads of industry during the dedicated networking sessions? Taking a tour of Cardiff University’s historic race car? Or sampling a ‘perfect pint’ of ale, courtesy of the robot bartender from Leeds University? NIDays was packed with inspiring moments and experiences that I will remember for a long, long time to come” says Richard Roberts, Senior Academic Technical Marketing Engineer.

12 exhibitors joined the lively atmosphere of the main exhibition hall, including Amfax, Austin Consultants and The Formula Student Silverstone 2017 winners, Cardiff Racing, who proudly displayed their history making Formula 1 car. Many more NI customers and partners filled the hall with their impressive applications, some of which won awards at the Engineering Impact Awards the previous evening.

@NIukie #PAuto #TandM #NIDays @NIglobal

Test and measurement is a prerequisite for constant innovation and improvement in the development and manufacturing space. In turn, monitoring various operating conditions such as acceleration, pressure, temperature, magnetic field and frequency range while performing test and measurement tasks automatically necessitates a variety of sensors. As innovations in testing methods gather pace, the development of sensors used in test and measurement applications too will pick up.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Sensors in Test and Measurement, finds that the market earned revenues of €820m ($1.10 billion) in 2013 and estimates this to reach €1,14 billion ($1.53 billion) in 2020. The aerospace and defence as well as automotive industries will generate the maximum revenue due to the large number of applications involved, and the high cost of sensors used. Meanwhile, the installation of wind turbines, owing to the intensifying focus on renewable energy, will present opportunities for sensors in testing wind turbines. Product testing in consumer electronics is another avenue that promises high growth.

“As product design and development become more complex, the need for highly accurate, sophisticated sensors for test and measurement applications will increase,” said Frost & Sullivan Measurement and Instrumentation Senior Industry Analyst Sankara Narayanan. “The shift to smaller, lighter structures will also drive the demand for smaller, lighter electronic components, including sensors.”

However, innovations in core sensor technologies have not kept pace with developments in other areas such as instrumentation and sensor packaging. To expand market scope, proven experience of having met the requirements of demanding test and measurement end markets will be critical. Further, easy-to-use, dedicated sensor solutions that provide state-of-the-art measurement and monitoring will be mandatory irrespective of the end market.

It is important for sensor manufacturers to offer a wide configuration of sensors to support multiple applications. Maturing into a one-stop shop by supplying test equipment and associated software along with sensors will help vendors appeal to a larger consumer base.

“Moreover, sensors used in test and measurement are put to extreme working conditions involving high temperature and pressure,” noted Sankara Narayanan. “Therefore, manufacturers must be able to deliver both on-site and local technical, repair and calibration services to stamp their authority in the global market.”

Notable industry experts discussed the future of smart infrastructures, substation automation and the Internet of Energy, providing valuable insights for improving operational efficiency.

Last May industrial software and energy automation expert COPA-DATA hosted the Energy Experience Day in Warwick (GB), an event aimed at addressing the challenges currently faced by power utilities, municipalities and grid operators.

Engineers and analysts from all parts of industry attended  and participated in Copa-Data’s Energy Experience Day in May 2014

The energy industry, having gone through drastic changes over the last hundred years, now faces a new frontier of innovation. Usability, design, independence and the ergonomics of process control are paving the way for most critical industries. Sectors such as pharmaceutical, energy and infrastructure, food and beverage, manufacturing automation and automotive are seeking to revolutionise human interconnectivity.

Martyn Williams

Host to a series of expert presentations, the Energy Experience Day delivered insight into the key issues of standardisation and collaboration within the industry. Martyn Williams, Managing Director of COPA-DATA in Britain, kicked things off with a keynote speech looking at how far the industry has come over the last hundred years and what the future holds.

“The future of the energy industry is hugely dependent on continuous progress in the field of Smart Grids,” explained Williams. “Industrial automation software is one of the keys to creating a national grid system that is smart enough to meet the rising demand for energy and integrate renewable energy sources. Products like the zenon Energy Edition make interfaces more efficient, ergonomic and user-friendly, while also increasing the security of substations, power plants and wind farms.”

Focusing on substation automation and smart infrastructures, industry experts from Intel, Mitsubishi, Advantech, Bilfinger and the University of Salzburg (A) spoke at the event. The discussions centred on the need for standardisation within the energy supply chain.

In particular, the importance of standards such as IEC 61850, an embedded protocol used in supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, was highlighted as the gateway to cost effective, multi-vendor substation automation. Its role in helping companies bridge the gap between centralised control and the increasingly dispersed nature of geo-information systems, was emphasised.

Ross Corfield, EMEA Market Development Manager for Intelligent Transportation at Intel, spoke about the Internet of Things (IoT), end-to-end (E2E) connectivity, infrastructure security and the growth of cloud computing.

“Intel is very keen to understand the issues and challenges faced by the energy sector,” he explained. “The COPA-DATA Energy Experience Day is the perfect opportunity to connect with people who operate on the ground and face these challenges on a day-to-day basis. For us, the event has been about how Intel can design the best technology that will make a difference for the future of energy.”

Juergen Resch

Jürgen Resch, Industry Manager for Energy at COPA-DATA, stressed the importance of best practice in substation automation. He demonstrated how the optimisation of software architecture has now improved control capability over geographically remote locations using portable and mobile devices.

Cost reduction was another key area highlighted by several speakers at the event. David Bean, Infrastructure Sales Manager at Mitsubishi UK, spoke about how effective telemetry and data management can yield significant cost savings in substation automation. Tony Milne, Manager for Power and Energy at Advantech, expanded on the topic of effective multi-vendor automation. He explained how IEC 61850 enables multi-vendor systems for substations to improve technical features, reduce costs and facilitate commissioning or installations.

Nigel Allen, Sales Manager at Bilfinger Industrial Automation Services, developed on the challenges faced by a non-integrated system which includes multiple companies, energy sources, interfaces, programming techniques and communication protocols. He then moved on to explain how Bilfinger addressed some of these challenges in an offshore wind farm project and an energy management application for large buildings.

Sébastien Roberto, Sales Manager at COPALP, COPA-DATA’s French subsidiary, also discussed the software needs of the energy industry. He emphasised the importance of using universal tools, which support protocols like IEC 61850, IEC 60870, MODBUS, DNP and DLMS/COSEM. He also stressed the importance of remote access, including online debugging and soft scope for the future of the energy industry. “The key,” Roberto concluded, “is to optimise resources, to ensure the reliability of products and make customers’ lives better.”

Simon Back, Researcher at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, offered a comprehensive presentation regarding the potential of bridging SCADA systems and Geoinformation systems (GIS) for the energy sector, particularly in the field of Smart Grids. For example, he explained, GIS can help visualise the position of electric consumers, generators and power lines of a Smart Grid, while SCADA can fulfil the surveillance and control function of the system.

Overall, the Energy Experience Day was received well by the public. Attendees included engineers and analysts from all parts of the industry including the British National Grid, Alstom, Atkins and Network Rail.

“The configuration specification [IEC 61850] is the key to industry development,” said Ray Zhang, Tech Leader of Automation Engineering at National Grid. “This is a wonderful forum for utilities developers, manufacturers and systems integrators to get together and share experiences and information.”

“The Energy Experience Day was all about giving people an idea, an inspiration about what can be achieved with standardised software, independence, ergonomics, IEC 61850 and collaborative partners,” explained Martyn Williams. “All of us at COPA-DATA would like to thank the attendees and we look forward to building on the success of this event with a follow-up session to be arranged for later this year.”

Expansive increase of smartphone use creates a need for mobile data monitoring solutions!

Over the next five to ten years, data traffic is expected to increase exponentially due to the growing adoption of smartphones globally. This amplified volume of data will place considerable strain on the networks of communication service providers (SPs)  and their information management systems, thereby stoking demand for mobile data monitoring systems.

Mobile data monitoring solutions are critical tools to improve overall mobile data performance and customer experience, as these can analyze mobile data and optimize the performance of their networks.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Global Mobile Data Monitoring Market, finds that the market earned revenue of $312.4 million in 2013 and estimates this to more than triple, reaching $1.103 billion in 2020, at a compound annual growth rate of 19.8 percent.

Due to the rocketing adoption of smart devices, mobile apps and video are expected to be the most consumed types of data. This growth is unlikely to dip, as social networking traffic and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication continues to rise in popularity. Over the next five years, M2M traffic is expected to outstrip even that of social networking traffic, as connected devices and sensors are anticipated to exceed 50 billion units.

Currently, SPs are ill equipped to deal with this demand for data.
“Communications SPs must invest in mobile data monitoring solutions to ensure positive end-user experience and lower customer churn,” stated Frost & Sullivan Communications Test & Measurement Program Manager Olga Yashkova-Shapiro. “Already, many SPs have rolled out Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks and are exploring other data traffic offload strategies to keep pace with demand.”

Adoption of over-the-top applications stimulates market growth
In addition to the adoption of smart phones, over-the-top (OTT) applications are contributing to the mounting demand for mobile data monitoring solutions. The swelling data traffic is forcing telecom companies to invest in more secure and complex testing capabilities to match strides with network expansions as well as upgrades in 3G and LTE.

Consumers are demanding more bandwidth-hungry applications, which require operators to deploy faster transmission links. When mobile users log on to 3G networks, they expect the applications to work seamlessly. Moreover, the information received from these different networks must be correlated.

Although the adoption of LTE has helped achieve the required data rates, there are significant concerns about the quality of voice and data. Companies are hoping to mitigate these issues with the adoption of voice over LTE (VoLTE), an IP-based multimedia system standardized by the third-generation partnership project (3GPP) to maximize international interoperability. VoLTE allows SPs to reduce the cost of delivery, enhance voice service offerings, and combat the service degradation in OTT services such as Skype and Viber.

“Traditional voice monitoring or service assurance solutions were not designed to analyze voice delivered over a data network,” notes Yashkova-Shapiro. “Therefore, the demand for next-generation mobile data monitoring solutions to support VoLTE is expected to increase and more operators are investing in new mobile devices required to support the VoLTE standards.”

Overall, SPs’ keenness to provide the highest levels of quality of service and quality of experience is expected to sustain the demand for comprehensive management solutions and proactive monitoring.

National Instruments has released its Automated Test Outlook 2014, highlighting the company’s research into the latest test and measurement technologies and methodologies. Engineers and managers can use the report, which examines trends affecting a wide range of industries, to take advantage of the latest strategies and best practices for optimising any test organisation.

This look into the future explores the following:

Business Strategy: Organisational Proficiency
The talent pool for test engineers is shrinking and test managers must improve organisational proficiency through smarter hiring, better onboarding and greater investment in training to ensure a properly skilled and staffed test organisation.

Architecture: Managed Test Systems
New technologies deliver greater feature sets on test equipment, helping test managers monitor the health of their test systems, lowering test costs and maximising uptime.

Computing: Cloud Computing for Test
Traditional test frameworks limit profitability by not providing the ideal balance of performance and cost or the ability to scale based on actual product demand. Similar to the IT industry, cloud computing applied to automated test can alleviate these growing test concerns.

Software: Scalable Test Software Architectures
Pressure to deliver test systems faster with fewer resources shifts software strategies away from rigid, inflexible solutions in favour of software-based platforms to maximise longevity and scalability across a product’s lifecycle and across new product designs.

I/O: Redefining the Notion of Sensors
The number of sensors in products has significantly increased, challenging test managers to keep up with new technologies and adapt to this growing need. Test managers need agile test solutions they can change as quickly as the sensor-integrated products they test.

Automated Test Outlook 2014 is based on academic and industry research, user forums and surveys, business intelligence and customer advisory board reviews.

Engineers are the future. Keep inspiring another generation!

David Bocanegra – “EV3 software is awsome…”

We have never been able to manage to get to NI Week, which is held annually in Austin Texas, more than 4000 miles away from Ireland as the crow flies. However we have been able to attend vicariously, via twitter, the live-streaming of keynotes and the blogs and releases issued during and immediately afterwards.

It has sometimes been said that in one way it is better to watch the twitter feeds than actually being there! It can certainly be as demanding on time and looking at a computer screen can be pretty exhausting. Indeed with the advance of hand-held units, iPads and phones, which can be connected all the time, the quantity, if not always the quality, of tweets was fairly intense. Of course its great disadvantage is the inability to provide the experience of face to face social intercourse, (nor the sometimes unpleasant aftermath of too-late nights!)

We have gathered the links to articles, blogs and pr material as we became aware of them and put them in a box on our Home Page to assist the busy engineer, nerd or geek who wanted a quick place to see these without having to trawl through what seemed like thousands of tweets. We have included that box below this article.

Tweet overload!
The enthusiasm of these National Instruments events is legendary and it continually seeped through these social media sharings. Things like “My biggest takeaway from every #niweek keynote: science and engineering are freakin cool!” (@TheRealAdamKemp ) or “Dr T kicked off #NIWeek 2013 by talking about Graphical System Design, Industry 4.0 and Cyber-Physical systems (oh, and bagpipe tuners!)” (@mjg73 ) and “My twitter news feed is blown up because of #niweek 🙂 totally not complaining! LOVE the new #roboRIO (so jealous I don’t get to use it)” (@alexkay4235 ). Another reported “Nearly 4,000 attendees packed in for the #NIWeek conference with over 1,000 streaming online!..” And more wonder & delight, “3rd year here, and the #NIWeek keynote intro still raises the hair on my neck!” (@Backerthebiker) or “Dang! Opening video presentation at #NIWeek 2013 was AWESOME! Kicking off this year’s conference with a big boom.” (@lindseyjo23); “Ready for another day of great madness! Love #NIweek” (@Fabiola31416).

Dr James Truchard

In think you get the idea!

The technology
Co-Founder Dr James Truchard kicked of in his inimitable style. The enthusiasm he generates is perhaps comparable to that generated by the founder of Apple though his style is completely different and perhaps understated though very real. He spoke about platforms and the future of virtual instrumentation. “From cyber physical systems to big Analog data solutions, graphical system design provides a platform based approach for measurement and control!”

Jeff Kodosky

The Applications
The second day commenced with a presentation by the other side of the foundation duo, Jeff Kodosky – the Father of Labview. Fostering discovery – using Labview in the most difficult applications. These include the iconic CERN project in Europe, sensitive healing technologies for cancer treatment and facilitating food production in otherwise impossible areas.

Inspiring and Preparing the Next Generation of Innovators
“High school kids created these robots!”
Day three Ray Almgren discussed Inspiring and Preparing the Next Generation of Innovators, always a strong suite with National Instruments. However we have no intention in treating on these “keynote” sessions. No! National Instruments with their usual efficiency, have provide professional videos of NIWeek 2013 Keynote Presentations and they are well worth looking at. They have divided each days keynotes into four sections which means that one can navigate to the topics/technologies of interest.

There are a few presentations which impressed your correspondent.

The young are always impressed with robots. We were introduced to David Bocanegra, a youthful programmer (10 years old), using the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 system. He demonstrated his skill and the versitality of the EV3 software. When asked he enthusiastically responded “EV3 software is awsome…” (See pic at top of page!)

We saw some high-school students using the NI roboRIO on a frisbie fairing robot. They started the system and there was a pregnant pause interrupted by one of them saying “Uh-oh!” One of the Nat Instrument guys (Ray Algrem) came across to see what was wrong but obviously the students had it under control as they explained what the robot was doing while nothing could be seen.

“What’s the probability of success?” he asked dubiously.

“High!” was the confident (and indignant) response of the students! And they were right!

They then used the doubting presenter for target practice as they used him in a William Tell-like exercise of shooting a bottle of his head with a frisbee! Wonderful stuff!

Dr Red Whittiker & Lunar Lander

Two other presentations on the third day were both to do with space. A memorable presentation from NASA’s Associate Administrator of Education, Leland Melvin. He shared his time on the International Space Station and his experience with robotics in space. Finally a presentation from Dr Red Whittaker, Carnegie Mellon University, on a planned robotic expedition to the moon to explore mineral resources there. The extraordinary machine that will be landing and doing the work was shown. Watch out for news of the pin-point landing and exploration in October 2015. Fascinating stuff.

Finally these tweets “I know I say it every year, but this was THE BEST #NIWEEK EVA!” (@crelfpro ) and “Had a great time @NIWeek! Already excited for next year.” (‏@TandelSystems).

Invitation!
“Thanks for attending #NIWeek 2013. We had a blast & hope you did too. Stay social & tell us what you liked best!” (@NIglobal)

Oh yes! Next year they do it (or something like it) all over again. Mark your diary – NI Week 2014 – 5th to 7th August 2014 in Austin Texas USA. 

The increasing number of fiber cable network deployments has spurred demand for fiber optic test equipment (FOTE) globally. Fiber optic communication is quickly becoming the future of network and communication, and the optic network will soon be the framework of every industry. As such, testing for insertion loss and bandwidth is vital in order to ensure effective real-time operations. This presents the global FOTE market with immense growth opportunities.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Technology Advancements Drive the Need for Fiber Optic Test Equipment Globally, finds that the market earned revenues of over  €451.40million ($584.4m) in 2011 and estimates this to reach €622.42 million ($805.8m)  in 2018.

Technological advancements will facilitate real-time 40 gig and 100 gig network deployments in every sector. This will require high fiber optic performance, and in turn, encourage the adoption of FOTE.

“The Internet presently requires swift data transfer for switching, routing, virtualization, and convergence,” said Frost & Sullivan Industry Manager Sujan Sami. “Fiber optic cables are capable of such high-speed transfers, and their increasing use necessitates fiber optic testing.”

Since networks and electronic products are becoming complex, it is critical to develop FOTE with better functionality, ease-of-use, and enhanced testing capabilities. The advent of powerful bit error rate testers as well as integrated and next-generation testing systems will boost testing frequency and add to market revenue.

Despite this market relevance of FOTE, the lack of customer awareness restrains implementation. End users do not fully comprehend the sophisticated technologies or possess the skills to use them effectively.

Furthermore, while the number of fiber cable networks has grown, the number of networks monitored for proper functioning has not gone up, resulting in performance degradation.

“Suppliers must educate companies on the importance of proactive testing,” concluded Sami. “Research and development along with increased manufacturing will draw investments into the FOTE market, particularly in Asia-Pacific and emerging markets.”

Demand for calibration services is expected to be high over the next 2 years in Europe, as regulations become more stringent and quality more essential across verticals. With competition in the European market being intense, turnaround time – without compromising quality – will be a key criterion for end users in selecting a calibration services supplier.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Analysis of the European Calibration Services Market, finds that the market earned revenues of $1.09 billion (€0.84b) in 2011 and estimates this to reach $1.55 billion €1.20b) in 2018. The calibration services market is segmented into in-house laboratories, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and third-party vendors.

“There is increasing awareness about the benefits of maintaining equipment in good operating conditions with periodic calibrations,” says Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Prathima Bommakanti. “End users would rather spend OPEX than CAPEX, which allows them to be more flexible in uncertain economic times.”

Onsite calibration, which provides minimum downtime, is considered more cost-effective by end users – especially in process industries such as chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The stress on preventive maintenance will further enhance the value of calibration services. OEMs that have sold instruments to clients will have the advantage of that installed base. They can leverage those relationships to raise the associated calibration service revenues.

Outsourcing between third parties and OEMs will help strengthen service-provider offerings. A significant trend in the calibration service industry is the outsourcing of calibration to calibration service companies, calibration labs, and the equipment manufacturers themselves. The company that outsources the process will remain responsible for managing and maintaining calibration records. As a result, calibration management software is becoming increasingly popular to keep track of service orders and schedules.

However, OEMs that offer premium prices are more challenged by the pricing pressure than third-party providers, and at times compromise on their profit margins, affecting the overall growth of the market. High pricing pressure also restrains smaller companies, leading to stagnation in terms of the overall market growth and service improvements.

“Creating brand awareness will be the key for small and regional vendors,” concludes Bommakanti. “In addition, they must focus on offering better value and on expanding their operations in different growing economies, either by setting up new facilities or through individual agents.”

Emerging application markets and technology areas will open up niche opportunities for newer, smaller companies

The material testing market is currently undergoing a period of recovery and stabilization after significant losses sustained during the economic downturn. The recovery of its key traditional end-user industries has been pivotal in driving this revival.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Analysis of the Material Testing Equipment Market, finds that the market earned revenues of €374.5 ($495.6) million in 2010 and estimates this to reach €446.8 ($591.1) million in 2015.

Market recovery has been fuelled by demand from traditional end-user markets. Although the impact of the downturn continues to linger, the recovery has been remarkable.

“2009 was one of the most difficult periods for the material testing market,” explains Frost & Sullivan Program Manager Vijay Mathew. “However, demand from traditionally strong users of material testing equipment such as automotive, aerospace, primary metals, and plastics have helped the industry bounce back.”

In addition to traditionally large end-user sectors, novel applications in the fields of biomedical, composites, medical devices and nanotechnology are expected to boost the market in the coming years.

While new opportunities are emerging, a key challenge remains the presence of established participants in the market. This has limited the business opportunities for smaller companies.

“The material testing market comprises a range of competitors of varying size and reach,” says Mathew. “The top three market participants occupy a significant amount of market and mind share, and drive critical parameters that define this market – such as price points and regulatory and standardization trends – making it difficult for emerging participants to gain a foothold.”

While this is both a restraint and challenge for newer and smaller material test equipment vendors, it can be overcome by focusing on emerging opportunities from geographical, technological, and application perspectives.

“With the emergence of new application markets and technology areas, niche opportunities do exist,” concludes Mathew. “Also, certain customers located in specific regions prefer working with local test equipment vendors rather than multinational organizations.”

For more information on this study, please send an email with your contact details to Anna Zanchi, Corporate Communications, at [email protected].

Analysis of the Material Testing Equipment Marketis part of the Test & Measurement Growth Partnership Service program, which also includes research in the following markets: World NVH Test Equipment Market, World Nondestructive Test (NDT) Equipment Markets and World Condition Monitoring Equipment Market.