Test & measurement [Technology 1998 analysis and forecast]

The need for development groups and researchers to push the limits of electrical measuring is more a thing of the past than the future. If improved performance pure and simple is not what users of test and measurement equipment need most, what is? "Cheaper! Better! Faster!" That's the mantra now. Test equipment marketers report that their customers are saying the same thing. Only a few years ago, the mantra was "Faster! Wider! Deeper!" The change reflects a test-equipment revolution that has gone beyond buzzwords and slogans to turn upside down the way test-technology decisions are made.