“Open Analysis”
July 6th, 2007 by Eric Starkloff
I am hearing increasingly from customers and other vendors in test and measurement about the need for “Open Analysis”. The need is driven by the increasingly diverse set of applications and thus measurement requirements driven by, among other things, macro trends outlined in the book The Long Tail. As communication standards continue to proliferate, and the pace of change increases, users need tools that can adapt just as rapidly to their changing measurement needs. Instrumentation vendors such as Tektronix, for example, are increasingly offering options for users to plug in third party analysis tools, or export their data to analysis environments for custom processing. Tek’s OpenChoice is “a collection of software libraries, utilities, samples, industry-standard protocols and interfaces”. An example of OpenChoice software is SignalExpress Tektronix Edition, which is used to automate Tektronix instruments and bring data into and open, PC-based environment for further analysis. Tektronix AEs, third parties, or customers themselves can add in their own custom analysis to meet their specific application needs.
