Engineering's indispensable tool

Web exclusive: How do leading vendors lure Web visitors? Gurus chart Web's future Too much of a good thing? One company's Web favorites

Results of the latest T&MW "Internet Usage Study," along with interviews with engineers and industry experts, reveal that the test community is becoming ever more reliant on the Web to solve job-related challenges.

Whether they're tapping into search engines and vendor sites or participating in chat groups and online seminars, engineers increasingly view the Web as their number-one source of technical data, especially when it comes to meeting an immediate information need.

"For me, the Web has gone from being a curiosity in 1992 to where I use it every hour of every working day," said Robert Santini, director of instrumentation for Purdue University's chemistry department.

Another engineering veteran, Kevin Parmenter of Fairchild Semiconductor, adds that engineers not only depend on the Web's easy access to information, 24/7, but that they also expect the Web to deliver continued improvements in speed and performance. Indeed, the T&MW usage survey shows that the Web's ability to slash the time it takes to search for information is its biggest benefit for respondents.

The average test engineer consults Web resources 8 hrs a week for business purposes, according to the study, compared with just 5 hrs a week for leisure purposes. What's more, those work activities often spill over to the home computer as well. "I'm doing eight to 10 hours of work per week on research for work at home," noted Mike Hartge, a reliability engineer for Tyco's Harman Electronic Div. in Mansfield, OH. "This includes preparing for test setups, which I can do at a more leisurely pace at home."

Most respondents (86%) rely on the Web for such work-related research, the survey shows, making it the second biggest reason for accessing the Internet on the job, following the need to visit vendor Web sites for service or support (90% of respondents). Among other top Web uses: e-mail (86%), downloading software (73%), evaluating products (71%), and accessing the corporate Intranet (52%). Engineers tend to rely on the Web most in the planning phase of new projects, when they are gathering ideas, investigating test tools, and establishing specifications.

Engineers also are finding more ways to integrate the Web into the test process itself. Purdue researchers, for example, depend on wireless networks to access test data on environmental conditions in Alaska's North Slope. "I can get on my laptop and not only watch the data stream but also adjust the instruments through a built-in scope card," explained Santini, the instrumentation director.

Purdue, through a National Science Foundation grant program, harnesses the Web to enable outside researchers to set up and control experiments in its chemistry lab. Santini explained, "Not everyone can afford to buy his own $120,000 infrared spectrometer, but this program gives researchers remote access to such equipment."

Frank Chambers, an independent engineering consultant in Maine, also points to the Web's role in answering the needs of technical professionals in remote areas. "I couldn't live without it," said the fiber-optics expert and former R&D manager for Eaton Corp. Among his most useful Web chores: downloading software upgrades from such companies as MathWorks, Microchip, and Photon Engineering.

Asked about the search engine they rely on most, Google ranked first (85%) in the T&MW reader survey—and it was the first word out of the mouth of every engineer interviewed for this report when asked about most useful search engines. Trailing well behind: Yahoo, MSN, Dogpile, and AltaVista. Test industry kingpins, such as Agilent, Tektronix, and National Instruments, also scored high among frequently visited Web sites in the survey, as did the Web sites of major broad-based electronics distributors like Digi-Key, Newark, and Allied.

"If I were on a desert island and could access only two Web sites for work, they would be Google and Digi-Key," observed Parmenter.

Nearly half of the survey respondents begin their technical research by accessing a search engine first; about 30% go directly to a manufacturer's Web site. Nearly 15% start their Web research by first going to the Web site of a technical magazine. Among the magazine Web sites visited most: Test & Measurement World (29%), EDN (23%), and EE Times (19%).

The T&MW research finds that a large percentage of respondents (66%) are buying work-related instruments, components, and software via the Web—typically after comparing prices online. Median online purchases for work totaled just over $6,200 in the last 12 months, according to the survey. "If I want to buy a Fluke DMM, I could get on the phone and go back and forth with a salesperson," noted Parmenter, "but it is so much easier to type in 'lowest price for a Fluke DMM' on Google and follow the links."

Chambers, the Maine fiber-optics test expert, did Web shopping for the components needed to build a high-performance PC. He figures he saved about 30% and got exactly what he wanted. Others trust the Web to help them decide on big-ticket purchases as well. For instance, Mike Donegan, owner of Digital Services, an engineering consulting company in Ottawa, relied on Web research to purchase a $70,000 FLIR Systems infrared camera. Canadian custom duties discourage him from actually making purchases online, unless the vendor is shipping from a distribution point in Canada.

Research from the Forrester Group shows that business-to-business online purchases far eclipses the amount of online buying in the consumer realm, despite the popularity of operations such as Amazon.com, which sold 2.8 million books online in a single day last Christmas season. Forrester analyst Andrew Bartels projects that B2B e-commerce in the US will grow from $1.5 trillion in 2004 to about $2 trillion in 2007. He notes a direct relationship between the size of a company and the amount of e-commerce. For instance, he estimates that 60% of companies with annual sales of $1 billion or more have set up online transaction capabilities.

This growth in e-commerce continues, despite concerns about online security fanned by recent instances of hacker intrusions into the online databases of such companies as LexisNexis, ChoicePoint, and Bank of America. "I am no more concerned about online purchases than I am about using my credit card in a restaurant," commented R. Vijayakumar, VP of technology for Air Techniques International, which makes test equipment for high-efficiency filters.

Besides e-commerce, Vijayakumar taps the Web to receive about 20 electronic newsletters, which he finds helpful in keeping up with both technical and marketing trends in the test field. He's got plenty of company. The T&MW survey found that 38% of respondents rate e-mail newsletters as "extremely useful" or "very useful" in their work, while 54% found them to be "somewhat useful."

About half of survey respondents say they attend online Webcasts and trade shows. Michael Bowman, a test engineer with Mid-South Electronics in Alabama, is moving from a Windows to a Linux-based operating system for some of the functional tests he does on the boards that his company builds. A Linux Webcast eased that transition.

Fairchild's Parmenter is also a Webcast fan. "They can be a wonderful training vehicle," he said, citing the online seminars on semiconductors and test topics found on TechOnLine.

While agreeing on the educational potential of online seminars, Vijayakumar observed that Webcasts often fall short when it comes to the quality of presentations. "Many have not moved beyond the look of flip charts and overheads," he complained.

Even so, test companies that were founded on an educational model, such as California-based A.T.E. (Advanced Test Engineering) Solutions, are conducting more of their classes online in real time. "Online students can ask questions as we go along," noted Louis Ungar, president of the company, "and others can chime in with a 'me too' on those questions. This tells us when we've got a point that needs more explaining."

Ungar added that, because test engineers always seem to be responding to some crisis, they are more likely to register for an online event versus making a travel commitment to a training site. "With online learning, there's less of a hassle if you have to cancel at the last minute."

Travel concerns also have hurt many trade shows and fostered an increase in virtual trade shows and search engines like Direct Industry (www.directindustry.com), which describes itself as a "virtual industrial exhibition." Parmenter noted that many managers are reluctant to pay for engineers' travel to trade shows when they can get the same product information over the Web.

With such an explosion of Web content, some observers wonder whether engineers, like those in other professions, have become too dependent on the Web. "I have an incredible collection of data sheets on my computer," said Maine engineering consultant Chambers, "and it can be like finding a needle in a haystack."

To cope with the data deluge, more engineers say they are trying new types of search engines, such as Copernic Desktop Search (www.copernic.com), to help them manage and search all the files that pile up on their own PC.

Others worry about reliability issues. "The chief downside of the Web is when the system crashes," said Hartge of Tyco/Hartman. "We've become so dependent on it, and we need to develop backup strategies."

Although 56% of respondents to the T&MW survey report that the Web has become their prime source of information, 93% indicate that they continue to find it necessary to read technical publications, especially for new product information, problem-solving ideas, and tutorials on testing.

More engineers report that they have switched from print magazines to the new digital versions of such publications as T&MW, EDN, and Design News. Chief reasons: The digital option eliminates storage problems of older issues, while providing instant Web links to companies featured in stories and advertising.

Looking ahead, engineers and media experts envision an even greater reliance on Web-delivered information.

Like other fields, engineering is spawning an expanding network of Web logs or "blogs"—regularly updated Web sites maintained by self-styled gurus or experts from companies or organizations. Richard House, president of VI Technology (Austin, TX), a company that sells test-management software, points to a raft of blogs that his engineers consult on a regular basis (see "One company's Web favorites," below).

House also predicts an increase in test instruments with built-in Web capabilities. For example, National Instruments' FieldPoint I/O product features an embedded Web server with a LabView remote-panel user interface. Similarly, engineers can use any standard Web browser to set up and remotely operate Agilent's 34980A multifunction switch/measurement unit.

Other industry experts see a growth in Web services in which software companies deliver their products on a downloadable "pay-for-use" basis rather than selling customers periodic new releases. Salesforce.com has successfully employed this model in software that salespeople use to manage customer relations.

Ungar of A.T.E. Solutions predicts that more Web services from companies or independent engineers will spring up in niche areas, such as telecommunications test and EMC/EMI. He said, "In fast-moving fields, or those where government regulations are always changing, test engineers need the Web to tap the knowledge of experts who can give them answers, not just sell them a product."