In 1978, Mercola helped found ICS Electronics, a General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB) manufacturer that has weathered constant technological tumult. Soon after ICS’s start, IBM revolutionized the design of test systems with the personal computer. Mercola now admits, “We failed to move into that. That was a big error on our part.”
Automated test equipment blossomed in the 80s and 90s, when it was used to test everything from microwaves to car components. Pre-PC, test apparatuses connected to early computers via custom interfaces. Later, Hewlett Packard developed the GPIB standard, a busing technology that allowed the exchange of measurements and commands between units with standardized interfaces. ICS enjoyed explosive growth by offering GPIB interface products that were compatible with the variety of ‘desktop calculators’ used at the time. But with the advent of the PC and its open-source architecture, several companies immediately developed GPIB controller cards and software for controlling test systems.
“We didn’t invest the effort into it. Our reps didn’t know how to handle it, so we fell behind, and the business decayed until about 1990,” says Mercola. The company scrambled to update while flirting with bankruptcy—a plight to which many modern CEOs can relate.
ICS redesigned its GPIB products and invented new, more user customizable interfaces that found a welcome home with OEMs. ICS also moved into the new VXI technology when that standard was created and has recently released a new driver for 64-bit Windows 7 PCs.
Today, while the GPIB bus is still being used in many new test systems, more of the newer systems are being designed around networking technologies and ICS is transitioning again. “GPIB bus products started out as 100 percent of our business. In 2000 it was 62 percent, and in 2010 it was down to 48 percent,” says Mercola. But he also notes that the business is not going away. Test systems are not replaced as long as they do a good job for the manufacturer. And in a slow economy, companies are less likely to replace systems as soon as the newest innovation rolls out without a good economic justification.
In the past few years, LAN-based instruments have become popular. The LXI consortium (LAN Extension for Instrumentation) has done an excellent marketing job. In 2009, Mercola accepted the En-Genius Network’s “Most Practical Piece of Test Equipment Award” for an interface that adapts GPIB instruments for LAN and LXI test systems. ICS is currently undertaking research and development with plans to release several LXI-compatible products in 2012.
“To sell anything, you really have to be a service organization,” Mercola says. As clients have become more cost-conscious, ICS offers them cost-effective products with increased capabilities, the ability to switch the external interfaces, and customized firmware to match the final product.
“I enjoy that kind of a project,” he says. “When you can talk to somebody and help him or her save money and offer them an enhanced solution, then you can get yourself built in as part of their product.”
For more information please visit: www.icselect.com
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