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Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:

A couple of weeks ago, Daniel Elizalde and Gricha Raether from VI Technology stopped by to show off the 2007 version of Arendar; I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to tell you about it. (Disclaimer: They gave me a thermos mug and laughed at my stupid jokes.) If you are in any way involved in automated test stations or benchtop measurement, you have to check this thing out. Think of it as something like PLM for test data.

So, what is Arendar? Arendar is a platform and complementary application modules that work to de-complicate the enormous quantities of data produced by test systems and benchtop devices used when you folks in high-tech electronics, semiconductors, medical devices, and diagnostic equipment are testing your stuff. It enables you to gather, organize, store, protect, publish, and analyze your test data with aplomb. It seems to me that Arendar simply will not collapse under the weight of enormous datasets, unlike some of the accounting applications I’ve seen engineers use.

The kicker of version 2007 is that it breaks test data out of its isolation and makes it readily available to the enterprise through your intranet or via your website. You can chart, analyze, data mine, play with, and share the data through the web. That’s what marketing

talk means when you hear “interactive reports.” Arendar also leverages SQL Server, has an API for really custom stuff, and it can export to your preferred analytics program. It even uses a Windows Explorer-like interface for administering your database, so you do not have to be an IT wizard or an IT support abuser to handle the thing.

I’ve been a fan of Arendar for about 10 years now, and I have to say it gets cooler every release. Not that I’ve even scratched the surface of what it brings to the table. Suffice to say, if you’re plagued by a ton of design, test, and validation data, Arendar is the way to make sense of it all. Learn more from today’s write-up and on the VI Technology website.

Thanks, Pal. - Lockwood.

Anthony J. Lockwood
Editorial Director
Desktop Engineering

Integrate Test Systems Throughout Enterprise
Arendar organizes and publishes test station and benchtop data for entire design chain.

VI Technology, Inc. (Austin, TX) has announced the 2007 release of Arendar, the company’s software platform that integrates automated test systems used in design, validation, and manufacturing into the enterprise. A configurable and expandable platform, Arendar 2007 has been enhanced to provide instant, enterprise- wide access to design, characterization, validation and verification, and manufacturing test information, further facilitating an organizations ability to share and analyze test data.

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Arendar aggregates test data produced by test stations and benchtop devices in a centralized SQL Server 2005 database and then makes this data available in the form of custom reports published to a secure Internet or intranet site. Engineers then access test results with a browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, and can avail themselves of Arendar’s analysis tools to explore their data. Additionally, Arendar lets you save reports as images, standard Microsoft Office documents such as MS Word and Excel, and Adobe Acrobat PDF.

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New features Arendar 2007 include a dragand- drop report designer that offers singleclick Web publishing of interactive reports, more secure data transfers through firewalls, and interactive data mining of swept parametric data. Arendar 2007 also comes

with a new API (application programming interface) that enables application developers to extend Arendar for specific application requirements through, say, custom data importers or plug-ins for analysis or visualization functionality.

Arendar 2007 also has a new, fully usercustomizable Web dashboard. It is through this Dashboard that you gain web access test results, which you can display as tables, charts or custom reports. You can save and share data views and custom reports or you can export your data for further exploration in other business, statistical, and engineering analysis packages.

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Arendar includes native interfaces for the common test and measurement software technologies. It also tightly integrates with National Instruments TestStand and LabVIEW as well as such .NET environments as C# and VB.NET. Arendar 2007 supports SQL Server 2005, Windows Vista, and ASP.NET. Administering your test systems and database with Arendar occurs through an interface similar to Windows Explorer, which minimizes the need for IT knowledge or support.

Arendar 2007 is available immediately. Pricing for an entry-level Arendar enterprise test system including deployment services starts at $19,995. For more information, go to http://www.vi-tech.com/arendar.

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