NI LabWindows(TM)/CVI 8.5 Provides Flexible Multicore Programming for ANSI C Development

National Instruments (Nasdaq:NATI) today announced LabWindows/CVI 8.5, the latest version of the ANSI C integrated development environment for test and embedded applications. LabWindows/CVI now features symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) support in real time, giving programmers greater control over applications running on multicore processors. With LabWindows/CVI 8.5, programmers can achieve increased performance on multicore systems with full control over thread management, built-in multithreaded libraries and drivers, thread-safe analysis functions and advanced debugging tools. With real-time SMP support in LabWindows/CVI 8.5, programmers have maximum flexibility to create optimized multithreaded applications that take advantage of multicore hardware architectures. They can automatically balance tasks across multiple cores without sacrificing determinism when designing mission-critical test and embedded systems. For high-performance test applications, such as those in the wireless, high-speed digital and mixed-signal test industries, programmers now can design new production testers with increased test throughput by performing parallel operations such as data acquisition, generation and analysis on multiple processor cores in real time. In addition, they can use LabWindows/CVI to manually assign portions of code to specific processor cores to fine-tune real-time systems or isolate time-critical sections of code. To meet the more challenging debugging and code optimization requirements of real-time systems, programmers can use the new NI Real-Time Execution Trace Toolkit 2.0 advanced debugging tool with LabWindows/CVI to visually trace the application execution, including the tasks running on each processor core as well as the detailed timing characteristics and priorities for each thread. "Now that LabWindows/CVI has real-time SMP support, our development team at the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) can take advantage of our existing C programming expertise for developing and debugging real-time, deterministic applications,” said Alessandro Masi, an engineer at CERN, which is developing the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most advanced particle accelerator. LabWindows/CVI 8.5 also offers the ability to edit code while debugging. When debugging an application, programmers may have to spend time reproducing the exact hardware and software conditions required to validate application behavior. Instead of waiting for the application to complete, they can increase efficiency by editing code while debugging. In addition, LabWindows/CVI 8.5 includes an updated environment that features tabbed workspaces, which help programmers develop faster by confining separate windows to tabs. Also, new collapsible code regions greatly enhance code readability by providing the ability to outline and hide code. LabWindows/CVI combines the longevity and reusability of ANSI C with engineering-specific functionality designed for instrument control, data acquisition, analysis and user interface development. For more than 20 years, programmers have used LabWindows/CVI in thousands of applications, including those in the aerospace, military and automotive industries. About National Instruments National Instruments (www.ni.com) is transforming the way engineers and scientists design, prototype and deploy systems for measurement, automation and embedded applications. NI empowers customers with off-the-shelf software such as NI LabVIEW and modular cost-effective hardware, and sells to a broad base of more than 25,000 different companies worldwide, with no one customer representing more than 3 percent of revenue and no one industry representing more than 10 percent of revenue. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 4,500 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries. For the past eight 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 LabWindows/CVI 8.5   11500 N Mopac Expwy, Austin, Texas 78759-3504 Priced from $1,199; €1,249; ¥167,000 Tel: 800-258-7022, Fax: 512-683-9300 Web: www.ni.com/lwcvi   E-mail: info@ni.com CVI, LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. The mark LabWindows is used under a license from Microsoft. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.