National Instruments Software Links Common Requirements Management Tools to NI Development Environments; New NI Software Brings Unprecedented Requirements Traceability to Test and Control Applications

Business Wire, May 2, 2006

AUSTIN, Texas -- Engineers can use the new National Instruments (Nasdaq:NATI) Requirements Gateway software to link common requirements management tools such as Telelogic DOORS, IBM Rational RequisitePro and Microsoft Word to familiar NI software development environments, including NI LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, NI TestStand and MATRIXx. NI Requirements Gateway significantly improves the quality and efficiency of designing new products by enabling requirements traceability from documentation to implementation. Tracking critical requirements across design as well as test and control applications is essential for validating design implementation, analyzing the impact of changing requirements and understanding the impact of test failures. The new software greatly reduces the amount of engineering time spent tracking requirements throughout the design flow and is ideal for applications that simulate or test complex components against documented requirements in industries such as automotive, aerospace, defense and consumer electronics.

By organizing and managing requirements and the documents or applications that cover them, NI Requirements Gateway assists engineers in addressing concerns about system complexity, compliance to industry and company standards and bringing products to market at an acceptable cost. With the software, engineers can specify which applications, simulation models and tests correlate with documented requirements. In specifying this correlation, NI Requirements Gateway captures traceability information and offers an analysis interface for inspecting and analyzing coverage and impact information. The software detects changes in the specified requirements documents, implemented simulation models and tests to maintain accurate traceability information and to assist in guiding development efforts. NI Requirements Gateway also offers a graphical view of traceability so engineers can quickly see important relationships and the results of impact analysis.

NI Requirements Gateway is designed for use with the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment, LabWindows/CVI ANSI C development environment, NI TestStand test sequence and execution environment and MATRIXx control design environment, as well as common tools for documenting and managing requirements, such as Telelogic DOORS, IBM Rational RequisitePro and Microsoft Word.

About National Instruments

For 30 years, National Instruments (www.ni.com) has been 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 PCs and commercial technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs for test, control and design applications through easy-to-integrate software, such as NI LabVIEW, and modular measurement and control hardware for PXI, PCI, PCI Express, USB and Ethernet. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3,800 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries. For the past seven 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 nati@ni.com or visiting www.ni.com/nati.>

Pricing and Contact Information

NI Requirements Gateway
Priced from $1,499
Web: http://digital.ni.com/express.nsf/bycode/prreqgway

11500 N Mopac Expwy, Austin, Texas 78759-3504
Tel: 800-258-7022, Fax: 512-683-9300
E-mail: info@ni.com

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