The history of American National Instruments (NI) Co., Ltd.

In the early 1970s, three young people, Dr. James Chuchard, Bill Norlin and Jeff Kodosky, worked in the applied research laboratory of the University of Texas in Austin. Because of their research on the US Navy project, these people used early computer technology to collect and analyze data. At that time, they were very frustrated by the inefficiency of data collection methods, so they decided to create a new product to make their task easier. 1976, in the garage of James Chuchard's house, three young people set up a company.

At first, the company had the ideas of "Longhorn Instrument" and "Texas Data" when it was named, but it was rejected when it submitted its application, so it finally adopted its current name: "National Instrument".

After the company was established, it borrowed 1 million dollars from Interfirst Bank and bought a small computer PDP- 1 1. Setting up and building GPIB interface was the first project that the company took over, and the first successful order was sold to Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio. As the three were hired by the school, on 1977, they hired the first batch of full-time staff to take charge of orders, bills and customer service. With the expansion of the company's transaction volume, they moved to a 56-square-meter office in 1978.

1980, three people resigned from the school to devote themselves to the development of the company, and the company also moved to an office of 500 square meters. In order to help generate income, the company took over many special projects, including the credit card system of the oil pump and the waveform generator needed for the sonar test of the US Navy. By 198 1, the company had reached the sales mark of 1 million dollars, so they moved to a larger office of 1000 square meters in 1982.

1986, LabVIEW, a famous graphic development system based on Mac, went online. The software enables engineers and scientists to use graphics such as "wires" to program vividly, instead of inputting text according to codes as before. Through the more intuitive use of people and the simplification of the frame structure, the productivity has been greatly improved, making LabVIEW popular as soon as it was released. The following year, LabWindows, a new version of LabVIEW based on DOS environment, was released. With the launch of this flagship product, Ni put forward the slogan of "software is instrument" and created a new concept of virtual instrument.

At this time, American National Instrument Company has 65,438+000 employees. In order to improve the enthusiasm of employees, every achievement of employees will be praised. 1987, the company decided to sell its products directly instead of continuing through agents, so it opened its first international branch in Tokyo, Japan.

1990, the company moved to a building near Austin Lake, and 199 1 year. Because it is close to a local bridge, it is also called "Silicon Hill = Bridge Point". 199 1 year, the company obtained the first patent through LabVIEW. Since then, they have invented SCXI, LabWindows/CVI and opened NI Park.

In 2002, the company opened its first overseas factory in Debrecen, the second largest city in Hungary.

Today, NI has spread all over the world, with branches in nearly 50 countries, * * * has more than 7, 100 employees, and provides various application solutions for more than 35,000 different customers.