Test and Measurement: Averna buys Nexjen

Canadian test and measurement company Averna has acquired Charlotte, N.C.-based integrator Nexjen Systems for an undisclosed sum. Nexjen is an 11-year-old division of Jenkins Electric Company, started to serve test customers in the southeastern U.S.
Nexjen is a National Instruments Alliance partner and specializes in designing and building custom test systems, particularly those utilizing NI’s LabView. Averna said that the purchase is intended to boost its presence in the eastern U.S. Nexjen’s president and vice president will stay on with the company as employees of Averna, the company added.
–Rohde & Schwarz and Texas Instruments announced a closer strategic relationship this week, with an agreement to establish a joint platform for current and future business. They plan to participate in “regular technology roadmap exchange workshops, which will be reviewed in executive management meetings as a part of the new supplier management program at Rohde & Schwarz.”
Rohde & Schwarz is also working with Signals Research Group on a new research study to take an early look at 5G power amplifiers. Rohde said that the study “will involve the products and support of several industry leading component companies currently working on 5G power amplifiers”. SRG plans to publish results in the second half of this year. Read more details here, and you can email [email protected] to learn more about the report or participation in the study.
–EXFO saw a boost to its sales in the most recent quarter, reporting that sales were up 5.4% year-over-year to $60.9 million compared to $57.8 million during the same period last year. Net earnings also saw a significant boost, from $563,ooo during its fiscal third quarter of 2015 to $919,000 in the most recent quarter.
Physical-layer sales made up the bulk of its business, accounting for about $42 million in sales during the quarter up from $38 million during last year’s fiscal third quarter. Protocol-level sales were at about $19.3 million, down slightly from $20.5 million in the year-ago period.
The company expects sales between $57 million to $62 million in its fiscal fourth quarter.
EXFO also this week introduced its it LTK-1 benchtop power meter, which brings its ?? into its new Windows-based LTB-1 benchtop platform. EXFO said that the LTK_1 power meter kit is the only offering on the market with both a touchscreen display and an optoinal inspection probe, its FIP-400B.
–Anritsu had two major product launches this week, including a new all-in-one base station simulator for testing devices, modules and chipsets that supports both 4 component-carrier carrier aggregation and 2×2 MIMO. The Signaling Tester MD8475B can perform performance tests and IP layer throughput tests on user equipment and has a built-in IP packet generator function so that an external client/server host isn’t needed.
Anritsu also added a new Common Public Radio Interface radio frequency measurement option to its E series of Site Master, Spectrum Master and Cell Master handhelds. This expands on the CPRI RF capabilities of its BTS Master to other Anritsu instruments. The option enables identification of interference courses on the radio uplink from ground level, and Anritsu noted that it has an “auto detect” function with preconfigured radio setups that will automatically configure the CPRI link to ensure a match with the test instrument.
–Cobham Wireless highlighted an internet of things end-to-end testing demo this week with China Mobile at Mobile World Congress Shanghai. The demo emerged as part of Cobham Wireless’ partnership with China Mobile’s 5G Innovation Center, and Cobham developed a multi-device emulation solution for cellular IoT that connects to small cell infrastructure equipment.
Cobham Wireless’ parent company, Cobham plc, said this week that that it will put a new CFO in place by the start of 2017. Current CFO Simon Nicholls’ retirement was announced earlier this year, and he will be replaced by David Mellors. Mellors currently serves as CFO of science and engineering company QinetiQ Group, which focuses on the aerospace, defense and security markets along with infrastructure and utilities.
–Tektronix has updated its Peripheral Component Interconnect Express test solutions with new support for 16 GT/s data rates and what it says is the industry’s first automated transmitter/receiver test solution for PCIe 4.0. The transmitter testing supports new transmitter measurements, including the 100 MHz reference clock that is used in all four generations of PCI Express.
–National Instruments launched a new source measurement unit capable of precisely measuring low-current signals in sensors and integrated circuits. The new NI PXIe-4135 SMU has a measurement sensitivity of 10 fA and voltage output up to 200 volts, and the modular unit can be used to build parallel, high-channel-count systems.
–Uzmobile Telecom, which serves the Republic of Uzbekistan, will be using Anite’s Nemo drive testing and benchmarking tools. Uzmobile plans to build a mobile lab to evaluate coverage and service quality for mobile network services using Anite’s equipment.
–Peregrine Semiconductor, which produces chips for products including test equipment, has started selling its products online.
The company also noted that discontinued Peregrine products can now be purchased through Arrow Electronics.
-Network visibility company Procera has joined the Wireless Broadband Alliance to be part of ongoing industry conversations around quality of experience on Wi-Fi. Procera recently announced that its ContentLogic traffic identification software for dealing with encrypted network traffic has reached 100 million subscriber licenses and is in use by more than 40 customers in fixed, mobile, Wi-Fi and higher education networks.