Logic analyzers feature higher speed and bigger screens and squeak to No. 1 in market share

Tektronix is crowing that, after years of battling, its logic analyzers have finally squeaked past those of Agilent Technologies (www. agilent.com) to achieve the No. 1 market share in 2004, according to a Prime Data (www. p r ime-data.com) study. Eight years earlier Tek¡¯s logic-analyzer market share was less than one-third of last year¡¯s 50%.

To emphasize that it is not resting on its laurels, Tek has announced two new units in its TLA7000 series: the $14,000, portable TLA7012, which accommodates as many as 272 channels, and the $16,000, benchtop TLA7016, which accommodates as many as 816 channels. The TLA7012 incorporates a 15- in.-diagonal,1024X728-pixel touchscreen LCD and a PC based on a 2GHz Pentium M processor running Windows XP Professional. The analyzer can also drive two external, side-by-side, 1600
1200- pixel monitors, to create,ineffect, a double-width display with a 3200-pixel horizontal resolution. The TLA7016 requires a separate PC and one or two monitors.

The logic-analyzer software (TLA application software Version 5.0) also runs on earlier TLA-series units that can run either Windows XP Professional or Windows 2000. Owners of such units can upgrade the analyzer software or trade in their instruments. Tektronix is also accepting competitive analyzers in trade. Among Version 5.0¡¯s new features are drag-and-drop triggering, automated measurements, and a user interface that features tabbed TLA Explorer windows, which permit one-click navigation to the window of interest, such as trigger, setup, waveform, or listing windows.
—Dan Strassberg


Tektronix Inc
www.tektronix.com