Tektronix launched new signal generators this week, adding to its lineup with two options designed to deliver better performance than similarly priced equipment from competitors. The AFG3000C Arbitrary/Function Generator Series has two 150 MHz bandwidth models: one with a single channel priced at about $4,700 and one with two channels priced at about $6,700.
The two new signal generators round out Tektronix’s lineup in that series, which has 100 MHz and 240 MHz models. The company claims that it offers “25% more bandwidth and 59% more output zone with +/-5 V DC offset at the same price as competitive offering in this segment.”
Michael Ewald, GM of Tektronix’s bench products division, called the pricing “disruptive” and said in a statement that the new options let customers “select the appropriate bandwidth level for their signal generation needs while also lowering their costs compared to other alternatives on the market.”
Tektronix also has two products tha are finalists in R&D Magazine‘s R&D 100 Awards, in the analytical/test category.
• Keysight Technologies announced its results this week, with profits and revenue down from the same period last year, but overall still a solid performance. It closed last week on its $600 million purchase of Anite, and Keysight’s president and CEO, Ron Nersesian, told investors on the quarterly call that the company has a “strong” appetite for acquisition. Read more on his remarks, plus the details of Keysight’s results, in this story.
• Signal Hound has started to support third-party ISO calibration services for its USB-powered spectrum analyzers, according to the company’s blog. The first company to offer that service, which relies on calibration software from Signal Hound, is Instrument Rental Labs in Broomfield, Colo. Signal Hound expects to add other companies that will offer the calibration services, which currently cover only its BB60C 6 GHz real-time spectrum analyzer.
• EXFO recently announced (pdf here) that it won a multimillion-dollar order for an automated fiber network monitoring system from an unnamed government entity in the Asia-Pacific region. EXFO’s NQMSfiber real-time optical network monitoring solution will be used for the “mission critical, high-speed, IP/MPLS network” that spans around 3,000 kilometers, according to the company. Revenue from the order is expected to be realized in fiscal 2016.
• Copper Mountain Technologies, which produces portable vector network analyzers, has made two new hires. Masud Al Aziz joins the company as a new senior applications engineer and radio frequency specialist; he previously worked at Telenor as a deputy superintendent engineer. Rick Hollowell is CMT’s new national business development manager and will focus on bolstering the company’s market position. Hollowell previously managed test equipment sales and rentals at Continental Resources and also has had an executive management role at Microwave Radio Communications.
• Deviser Instruments recently was recognized with an award from Frost & Sullivan for new product innovation in test and measurement, for its Profiler line of test equipment.
• GL Communications has expanded its SIGTRAN protocol test suite for hybrid networks, supporting SS7 simulation over IP networks for the testing of network elements, error tracking, regression testing and load testing/call generation, among other features.
• Xcerra, which provides semiconductor testing solutions, said it has provided an Asia-Pacific customer with a test cell for micro-electromechanical systems for inertial and navigational applications. Peter Cockburn, senior product manager for test cell innovation at Xcerra, said in a statement that the fabless customer wanted a “highly parallel test solution at an [outsourced semiconductor assembly and test facility] to support the aggressive production ramp and cost of test reduction goals for his mobility MEMS applications.” MEMS are often used in smartphone sensors for position detection, such as gyroscopes and accelerometers.
• Advantest has a new channel card for testing high-speed memory that it said is “the fastest fully integrated memory test card in history,” supporting speeds up to 16 Gbps for ultra-fast memory integrated circuits. The HSM16G card is compatible with Advantest’s line of V93000 HSM testers for device engineering, debugging and volume production.
