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The latest market study from Venture Development Corporation (VDC), “Data Acquisition Products: Global Market Demand Analysis”, sizes and forecasts shipments of data acquisition external chassis and modules and plug-in analog I/O boards to markets in three major geographic regions: the Americas (Central, North and South America); Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); and Asia-Pacific. External chassis and module products covered in the study include data loggers, distributed/remote I/O, paperless chart recorders, USB PC front-end modules, other PC front ends, and standalone systems. Meanwhile, for the plug-in analog I/0 board category, products covered include CAMAC, CompactPCI, ISA, PC/104, PCI, PCI Express, PCMCIA (PC Cards), PXI, PXI Express, VME, and VXI.
Inside to outside
All of the regional markets and forecast regional market growth rates are higher for the external chassis and modules than the plug-in analog I/O boards. There continues to be an ongoing trend in data acquisition applications to the use of external devices, says the report, especially USB PC front ends instead of plug-in analog I/O boards.
The external products are attractive because of their portability and nature as computer peripherals rather than installed components that become permanent parts of a computer. These chassis and modules can be easily be moved from system to system, taken into the field, or used in a setting where having a computer would be impractical.
External products also have the advantage of not requiring a new system or additional upgrades so long as the communication bus for the device – most commonly serial, USB or Ethernet – is found on the computer.
West to east
A major consideration in the Americas forecasts is the expected slow growth rate of the US economy. There is also ongoing shifting of manufacturing operations out of North America, in many cases to the Asia-Pacific region.
Shipments to markets in Asia-Pacific for both the external chassis and modules and plug-in analog I/O boards are expected to overtake those to Europe, the Middle East and Africa within the next four years – because of the rapidly increasing manufacturing operations in countries there with emerging economies, particularly China.
Manufacturing businesses in these countries are being formed and expanded. In addition, manufacturers in other regions are moving operations to countries in this region with low labor costs. Part of the increases in capital investment by these firms will be in data acquisition products, both for use in manufacturing operations and in the design and testing of new products. In addition, these countries have growing needs for environmental monitoring, and in medical applications.
