There’s a new modular instrument standard announced! It’s called “AXIe Zero”, titled “Low Cost Instrument and Switch Architecture”, and written as AXIe-0. Like Coke Zero, AXIe-0 is the diet version of its namesake, AXIe. But instead of cutting calories, AXIe-0 cuts cost and complexity.

I’m going to tell you about it. But before I do, I need to give you full disclosure. I led the technical committee that designed it.

From day one our goal was to meet two objectives. The first objective was to create a standard that would significantly lower the cost of modular instrumentation and switching solutions. Our second objective was complete upward compatibility to AXIe-1, the mainstream standard. This is why we called it AXIe-0; it was a subset of the existing AXIe-1 specification.

I am happy to report that AXIe-0 meets both goals.  To read me summary of what this new spec is all about, go here.