MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- According to a Frost and Sullivan report, revenues for the PCB automatic test equipment (ATE) market topped $1.16 billion in 2007 and are expected to reach $1.85 billion in 2014.

Frost and Sullivan concluded that the most notable trend supporting this growth is an increased usage of combination testers because of the versatility of this approach when applied to high density circuit boards and components. Manufacturers using a combination of methods can optimize yields. The combination of functional testing and boundary scan testing has become popular in spite of high equipment cost because it can reduce the overall cost of testing.

“In today's electronic industry, it is highly imperative to have sufficient test coverage to improve product quality, reduce time-to-market and improve manufacturing yields,” says Frost & Sullivan research analyst, Sujan Sami. “Especially in a situation where device complexity, functionality of chips and circuit board architectures are on a rise; cost-effective and efficient test solutions will be the key, and the right combinational testers expect to play a major role.”

“The need for more sophisticated products, especially in the extremely demanding automotive and medical industries drives the need for better quality oriented test equipment,” notes Sami. “The modular functionality of integrating various types of test equipment expects to surpass the need for individual hardware and software testing moving forward.”

WASHINGTON -- Industry business leaders are calling on Congress to renew the depreciation laws tied to the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which allowed companies to reduce the time it take to recoup outlays for capital equipment.

"A strong manufacturing sector is critical to a rapid economic recovery," wrote Matthew Holzmann, president of Christopher Associates, in one letter. "It would seem from the headlines that only certain industries would benefit from many of the proposals in Congress at present.  Reinstatement of accelerated depreciation, especially as written in H.R. 5150, will help all industries and is a real, tangible tool for keeping America strong."