NIWOT, CO, May 14, 2010 - ADLINK Technology, Giga-tronics, Guzik Technical Enterprises, and Tyco Electronics have recently joined the AXIe Consortium. AXIe (AdvancedTCA Extensions for Instrumentation and Test) is an open modular test standard that enables an ecosystem of components, products, and systems for general-purpose instrumentation and semiconductor test. The AXIe Consortium was launched in November 2009 to develop and promote the AXIe standard.

AXIe promises a number of benefits for these new members of the consortium, improving their ability to meet the test requirements of next-generation electronic products. AXIe offers higher performance per rack inch; greater scalability; and easy integration with PXI, LXI and IVI with more modularity and flexibility, leading to a significant reduction of development and unit costs.

"We welcome the technical skill and experience of Giga-tronics, ADLINK, Guzik, and Tyco Electronics. Their expertise will help us complete the first revision of the AXIe specifications by this June. Since last November, our membership has more than doubled. We expect to see a number of AXIe-based products from our membership already in 2010," said Larry Desjardin, chairman of the AXIe board of directors.

"The ATCA PICMG™ 3.0 Standard, the foundation for the AXIe standard, is a proven open-system architecture with a large board size and high power and cooling capability, which is suitable for high-performance RF and microwave modular instrumentation as well as the expanding complexity of our signal switching solutions," said Malcolm Levy, vice president of sales and marketing at Giga-tronics.

"Tyco Electronics is pleased to join the AXIe Consortium," said Eric Snyder, director of business development, Tyco Electronics. "Everything in our world is becoming increasingly connected and networked. Instrumentation and test equipment are no exception. By participating in the consortium, we can make sure that the industries' interconnect and cabling needs are being supported by our products."

"AXIe provides a well-thought and flexible interface for modular instrumentation, which expands AdvancedTCA form-factor to cover a wider variety of applications. AXIe standard allows for large-scale integration of Guzik high-speed data acquisition modules with other devices designed by various manufacturers. Scalable architecture with cascaded connection is crucial for real-time data transfer and processing," said Alex Varlahanov, senior director of system engineering at Guzik Technical Enterprises.

ADLINK advances technology in the fields of test and measurement, applied computing, and automation. They provide quality and cost-effective solutions for their partners around the world as a provider of industrial building blocks and industrial application platforms for embedded computing, measurement, and automation applications.

Giga-tronics produces instruments, subsystems and microwave components that have broad applications in both commercial communications and defense electronic systems. Giga-tronics consists of three primary product areas: test and measurement instrumentation, signal switching solutions, and microwave components and assemblies.

Guzik Technical Enterprises develops test solutions aimed at verifying signal and overall magnetic recording integrity for disk drive heads and media as well as waveform acquisition tools for demanding ATE and OEM applications in avionics, signal intelligence, military electronics, physics, astronomy, semiconductors, and a variety of other disciplines.

Tyco Electronics is a global provider of engineered electronic components for thousands of consumer and industrial products, network solutions and systems for telecommunications and energy markets, undersea telecommunication systems, and specialty products.

About the AXIe Consortium

The founding members of the AXIe Consortium are Aeroflex, Agilent Technologies, and Test Evolution. AXIe is a proposed standard based on AdvancedTCA (ATCA) with extensions for instrumentation and test. The mission of the AXIe Consortium is to provide an open standard that creates a robust ecosystem of components, products, and systems for general-purpose instrumentation and semiconductor test. AXIe leverages existing standards from PXI, LXI, and IVI. AXIe promises high scalability and performance that will address a range of platforms from benchtop measurements to rack- and-stack modular to ATE systems.

AXIe Consortium membership is open to all vendors who agree with the stated goals and intend to provide solutions to the marketplace.