The origins of National Instruments

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December 2001 News

As National Instruments celebrates its 25th anniversary, President, CEO and Co-Founder Dr James Truchard, offers his personal account of the events that led to the company's founding:

The idea for starting a company first occurred to me in 1967 when I completed my master's thesis at The University of Texas in Austin. I had tasted success by developing an ultra-low noise amplifier used widely for measurement applications. The development made me feel ready to go out on my own, but I decided to stay at The University of Texas and pursue a Ph.D.

When I completed my doctorate, my thoughts again turned to a business venture. Early in 1976, I met Jeff Kodosky and Bill Nowlin, associates of mine from the Applied Research Labs at the University of Texas, and made plans to form a start-up company. We soon decided that our inaugural product would be a general-purpose interface bus (GPIB), with which engineers and scientists could connect a measurement device to a computer to take readings such as temperature, voltage and pressure.

By April 1976, Jeff, Bill and I were ready to start designing our product. We chose a number of possible names for our company - Texas Digital, Longhorn Instruments and several permutations of our initials. All of them were rejected, however, when we submitted our first application for incorporation. In the next round of names submitted, much to our astonishment, we received our first choice - National Instruments.

After borrowing $10 000 on our signatures from a local bank, we bought a computer and started product development. We first used my garage workshop and then rotated between our houses. Our GPIB prototype was complete in April 1977. About that time, NI moved into its first 300 square foot office.

We sold our first unit in 1977 on a cold call to Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. By the end of that year we had shipped a total of three boards and hired a part-time administrative assistant.

In July 1978, NI moved to a 600 square foot facility, but by September the company was reaching a crisis point. We had put our hearts into the effort and it still was not going as we had expected. Rather than quit, however, we poured in more money and determination and plowed ahead. We mailed a flyer to a list of 15 000 engineers and scientists suggesting to them an alternative means for feeding measurement data to their computers. The mailing was a success. The company shipped $78 000 in products that year and its future brightened.

On 9 November 1979, I joined NI full time. Jeff joined 1 February 1980 and Bill on 1 April 1980. We were on our way.

Today, I am proud to say that NI has become a global technology leader providing computer-based and networked measurement and automation solutions to customers around the world. In 2000, we served more than 24 000 customers in such diverse industries as aerospace, consumer electronics, automotive, communications and petrochemicals. With more than 2600 employees in more than 35 countries, NI has recorded double-digit growth for the past 24 consecutive years. Additionally, Fortune magazine named NI as one of the 'best companies to work for' in both 2000 and 2001.

National Instruments, (011) 805 8197

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