Santa Clara, CA - October 15, 2003 - SigmaQuest, Inc, a leader in Product Performance Intelligence, today announced plans to preview its SigmaSure 3.0 release at the NI Technical Symposium 2003, October 23, 2003 at the Hyatt Hotel, 1740 North First Street, San Jose, California.

In addition to performance improvements as much as 450%, SigmaSure 3.0 is designed to give managers and engineers greater control of test processes in global environments while supporting terabytes of test data. SigmaSure 3.0 also expands its SigmaProbe - an application program interface (API) to not only extract global test data in highly structured but flexible XML format; but to also push controller software such as the latest revision of a test program and specifications to a remoter tester.

"SigmaSure is the first commercial Product Performance Intelligence solution that bridges the 'visibility gap' between distributed design, manufacturing, and field repair organizations created by the decentralization of the electronics industry. Because the NI Technical Symposium 2003 is valued for introducing and promoting new test and measurement technologies, we found it the ideal medium to introduce SigmaSure 3.0. This sneak-preview gives global teams the perfect opportunity to see how SigmaQuest can increase the overall efficiency and quality during the entire product lifecycle," stated Nader Fathi, CEO of SigmaQuest.

Some of the new features to be demonstrated at this event are:

Revision Control and Rollback - SigmaProbe 3.0 is now bi-directional and supports revision control, including rollback, of tester software and product specifications. Users can now remotely control the factory test floor from virtually anywhere. 

Integration with latest Oracle Database Platform - The integration of SigmaSure 3.0 with Oracle continues our commitment to provide a powerful database - platform optimized to support terabytes of data - while hiding the complexity of designing and managing the database. Using SigmaSure 3.0 with Oracle, an engineer can easily collect and manage hundreds of gigabytes of test data from globally distributed locations. This tight integration increases test data management effectiveness, efficiency, and flexibility for enterprise customers.

Expanded Monitoring, Reporting and Advanced Analytics - Based on many years of hands-on experience at OEM and EMS sites, SigmaSure 3.0 introduces real-time, web-architected monitoring, reporting and advanced analytic capabilities that have not been commercially available for diagnostics until now:

Nested Paretos speed failure analysis. An engineer can drill-down on a Pareto to examine the underlying data via a subsequent Pareto, scatter diagram, or histogram. This allows users to isolate a problem in minutes versus days.

Enhanced Failure Isolation pinpoints whether the unit under test, the fixture, or the test station is failing. This capability is easily incorporated into an early warning system that notifies the "right" person or persons when a potential problem is detected by SigmaSure's automated monitoring. This feature allows global teams to work in parallel, expediting the production cycle and decreasing costs.

Availability

SigmaSure 3.0 will be available for commercial release in November 2003. SigmaSure 3.0 is platform independent (Windows, Linux and Solaris) and can be used to target any tester, anywhere and all the time. SigmaSure 3.0 includes SigmaProbe, SigmaConnect, SigmaAnalysis and SigmaSPC.

About the National Instrument Technical Symposium

Explore the latest developments in test, measurement, and control at NI Technical Symposium, a complimentary, full-day event featuring a variety of instructor-led sessions for test, measurement, and control. At this technical forum, meet product experts, network with colleagues, build application development expertise, and learn about the latest NI products. Join the more than 9,000 attendees who have discovered how to increase productivity and lower costs at NI Technical Symposium. To register and to access detailed event information, visit: http://sine.ni.com/

About SigmaQuest

SigmaQuest, a leader in Product Performance Intelligence, is the first to enable global visibility to test and quality data for electronic systems manufacturing. The company's revolutionary "any-data, any-tester, anywhere" technology supports automated test and quality data management and analysis across multiple geographies, test equipment suppliers, and extended supply chain members. Original equipment manufacturers and contract manufacturers achieve lower materials costs, lower manufacturing and support costs, and faster time to revenue.