AUSTIN, TX -- National Instruments achieved record first-quarter revenue of $262 million, up 10% from last year.

Orders rose 13% year-over-year as backlogs increased $6 million during the quarter.

Net income was $19 million, down from $30.5 million, in part due to higher expenses associated with the acquisitions of AWR and Phase Matrix. Gross margin increased to 77% percent, up 100 basis points sequentially.

"Over the last quarter century, National Instruments has been providing disruptive technology to the industry," said Dr. James Truchard, co-founder, president and CEO. "During that time, I believe there has been a significant transition toward our graphical system design approach, which involves technology that harnesses productive software and modular hardware. I am excited to see our customers using LabVIEW to design their test and control systems and leading the industry to the era of software-designed instrumentation."

Excluding acquisitions, sales rose 2% in the Americas, 7% in Europe and 13% in Asia. Including acquisitions, sales were up 7% in Europe, 10% in the Americas, 13% in Asia.

The quarter was notable for the largest application sale in the company's history, which involved its LabVIEW and PXI test solution. Year-to-date, NI has received $17 million in orders for the application, and anticipates an additional $10 million to $15 million over the rest of the year.

National Instruments guided for revenue of $270 million to $290 million, an increase of 7 to 15% over last year. NI has a goal of $2 billion in revenue by 2016.