Aeroflex Takes the Fast Path to IVI Proficiency
"Pacific MindWorks is a very responsive company that delivers what they promise",
Mark Meldrum, Aeroflex Software Development Manager
Achieving proficiency in IVI driver development is often considered a challenging
endeavor. While drivers that conform to the IVI specification are a major productivity
boon for application developers, they are time consuming for driver developers to
create.
Aeroflex Systems, a leading provider of synthetic test and measurement systems for
the military-aerospace industry, knew there had to be a better way. Faced with a
schedule critical IVI driver development project, Aeroflex sought out the tools
and training that would put them on the fast path to IVI proficiency.
Fast Forward
"We knew better than to jump right into an IVI driver project without a carefully
planned roadmap," said Mark Meldrum, Aeroflex Software Development Manager, "I had
been informed by some IVI experts that it would be difficult to develop an IVI driver
without the right tools. The projected learning curve would have impacted our tight
schedule."
Aeroflex's search for a better way led to Pacific MindWorks. "Pacific MindWorks
IVI driver development tool, Nimbus, seemed just right for our needs. Nimbus promised
to shield us from the complexity of IVI so we could focus on writing code to support
the unique features of our instrument, not the myriad of supporting details that
the IVI specification requires."
"Pacific MindWorks offered a one week training program to jump start our IVI development
efforts. We signed up right away and in less than a week Pacific MindWorks was onsite
and began training."
Aeroflex discovered the training was unlike any other. "The format of the training
was outstanding. The first two days covered the basics of IVI and Nimbus. Everything
we needed to know was clearly explained. In the last few days we used Nimbus to
develop an actual working driver for our hardware. In the typical training session
you merely work on instructor provided examples. Here we walked away with real code
that is in use today."
Power Users
It took only one week of training for the Aeroflex team to achieve self-sufficiency.
"We haven't needed any further training since the initial session. Everyone left
with a solid understanding of IVI and Nimbus. It doesn't hurt, of course, that Nimbus
is so easy to use. Nimbus walks you through the process of creating an IVI driver.
You answer some questions and then it produces a driver shell that takes care of
the messy details of IVI-COM and IVI-C."
"Another big plus of Nimbus is its seamless integration with Microsoft Visual Studio
.NET. Once Nimbus has generated the initial driver code all other development tasks
are accomplished without leaving the Visual Studio IDE. Nimbus even tracks changes
you have made to the generated driver source in case you need to work with the model
again. Its code round-tripping support is very complete."
Satisfied Customers
"We are very pleased to have found Pacific MindWorks," concluded Meldrum. "The IVI
training was pivotal to our success and Nimbus saves us a lot of time. The experience
gave us a big jump on a challenging project which has been a key part of helping
us meet schedules. Pacific MindWorks is a very responsive company that delivers
what they promise."