In my recent article Integrating Traditional and Modular Instruments, I drew a contrast between traditional box instruments and open modular platforms, such as PXI, VXI, or AXIe.  I briefly mentioned a class of products that are proprietary modular designs. These are modular instrument systems from a single vendor that consist of that vendor’s plug-in modules. Applications range from electronic switching to logic analyzers.

So, what are the trade-offs between proprietary and open modular systems?  Let’s look at the reasons users are attracted to modular systems to begin with: size, speed, flexibility, and cost of test.  You can find my analysis in my new blog post here.