Mr. Jamal, why is no stone left unturned in measurement and automation technology at the moment?
RahmanJamal: We are currently experiencing incredible progress. According to futurologist Ray Kurzweil, this is because we are exploiting the immense potential for exponential growth that is available to us through the digitalization of the world. The result is that industry after industry is being turned upside down, and this turning upside down is often referred to as 'disruption'.

So the recipe for success is?
RahmanJamal: Pair open software-centric technology platforms with constantly growing ecosystems - that's how you unleash disruptive forces! Nothing else is happening right now in our field of activity of measurement, testing and control technology: I dare say that we are also experiencing a radical change here, triggered by the platform-based approach of National Instruments paired with a huge ecosystem, which is leading to a massive shift in perspective from manufacturer-defined control and measurement boxes to user-defined systems.

What does this mean from your customers' perspective?
Jamal: The current topics - Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 are bringing a whole new breed of devices. Devices that have a much more flexible range of functions than previous devices, can be transferred additional or different functions much more quickly and can be flexibly modified. Conventional measurement, testing and control technology is not up to these rapidly changing requirements. And because the rapid developments in IoT and Industrial IoT mean that customers' products often change within a very short space of time, we now have to enable customers to adapt their systems to their needs themselves.

How do you do this?
RahmanJamal: We have always relied on a platform consisting of modular hardware, such as PXI, and flexible software, i.e. Labview, which allows the user to both automate and customize each solution. The essential thing, however, is that the platform is complemented by an entire ecosystem.

What do you mean by your ecosystem?
RahmanJamal: As we built out our platform, an entire ecosystem began to develop around it, and a huge support network for engineers in the field of intelligent testing emerged. We have made it easier for our alliance partners and integrators to use our platform as the basis for a complete solution for their customers. But it goes far beyond pure integration. There are hundreds of community-created toolkits in the Labview Tools Network. And most importantly, there are more than 300,000 users doing the same tasks and willingly sharing their code and experiences in online forums and user groups. This means that users are not limited to the innovations of the respective manufacturer's development team. And this ecosystem is constantly growing. To illustrate the scale: The ecosystem actually comprises far more people than all the employees of all the companies in the measurement and testing sector worldwide put together.