Q. What kind of change do you envision with the adoption of the new 802.11ac wireless standard?
A. The adoption of 802.11ac will double both data rates and RF bandwidths for designers in this market. As a result, we expect to see increased demand for high-speed serial data test solutions, and for oscilloscopes with bandwidths in the 10+ GHz range. We also believe that the modulation schemes used will make jitter measurements increasingly critical.
Q. EDA on cloud has suddenly found a lot of interest in the electronics industry as EDA vendors try to move analyses to the cloud. Are the major T&M players looking forward to something similar?
A. We are very interested in the ability to compare the results of simulation with the results of real world measurements. With the explosion of data, we see it becoming more challenging, but at the same time, more valuable. If you can navigate the challenges there, you can really shorten the design cycle, which is what a lot of T&M is all about.
Q. Are there any interesting things out in the T&M world which you can talk to us about?
A. I think there’s always something interesting coming out in the T&M world. I don’t want to talk about our product road-map, but I do feel that test equipment is not only getting faster and more powerful, it’s also becoming more intuitive, so designers are more likely to pick up a new instrument and understand it quickly. I also think that they are gaining more insight into the workings of the circuit because of the kinds of tools and intelligence that are built into it.
