NI Connect 2025 brought together engineers, architects, and technology leaders in Fort Worth, Texas, to discuss the future of test, measurement, and automation. From AI-assisted workflows and modern LabVIEW ecosystems to scalable software architectures, the event highlighted both the rapid evolution of engineering tools and the strength of the NI community. For #teamhampelsoft, it was an especially memorable week filled with great conversations, inspiring sessions, and the honour of receiving NI’s 2025 Consultant Impact Award.
Back in the USA
The last time Jörg attended an NI event in the United States was NI Week 2019 in Austin – an event that was already memorable for the WUELUG community, which received NI’s Innovation Award at the time. Back then, the user group ecosystem around WUELUG was still relatively young. Today, with more than twenty events organised and a growing international community, the group – together with the newly founded NOBLUG – have become a well-established part of the LabVIEW ecosystem.
With the Austin Convention Center currently under renovation, NI Connect 2025 moved to Fort Worth near Dallas. The new location proved to be an excellent choice, offering a modern convention centre and a vibrant downtown area that worked very well for both technical exchange and community networking.
Before the Conference: Bouldering and Debugging
Slowly becoming a tradition, the trip started with a few bouldering sessions in Austin and Fort Worth. In #teamhampelsoft’s opinion, there are few better ways to clear your head and solve engineering problems than spending time on the wall.
Jörg was joined by several long-time #labviewfriends, including Sam Taggart, Neil Pate, Chris Thoroughgood, and Aaron Gelfand. As always, the conversations quickly moved between climbing projects, software architectures, open-source tooling, and community topics.
Partner Day and the LabVIEW Champions Community
Monday started with the LabVIEW Champions breakfast. After years of virtual meetings and online collaboration, it was refreshing to see many familiar faces again in person.
The monthly Champions meeting — normally held remotely — took place directly at the conference and included not only community members but also a significant number of NI employees and leadership representatives. The goal of these meetings remains highly valuable: connecting NI leadership directly with engineers and consultants actively using LabVIEW in real-world production systems and providing practical feedback based on actual project experience.
Jörg also had the opportunity to meet with Adam Roig, NI’s Principal Community Program Manager for the Software Community. Discussions focused heavily on user groups, community growth, and how NI can better support technical communities such as WUELUG, NOBLUG, and internal customer events.
Challenge of the Champions
One of the more entertaining traditions of NI Connect is the “Challenge of the Champions” competition — a technical and community-focused challenge event bringing together LabVIEW Champions from around the world.
This year, Jörg competed as part of the “PPL Pleasers” team together with Neil Pate, Erich Schlieper, and Mark Balla. The team came very close to taking the win, although perhaps “almost winning” simply adds motivation for next year.
Technical Sessions and Community Exchange
Tuesday and Wednesday were packed with presentations, technical discussions, and strategic meetings.
Some of the most interesting sessions included:
- Open Source Initiative: How NI and the LabVIEW Community Collaborate Towards the Success of NI LabVIEW
- What’s New with NI LabVIEW for Collaborative Development
- Introduction to DQMH
- The Future of NI CompactRIO
- How Cybersecurity Is Changing the Roles of Test Engineers
Several themes repeatedly emerged throughout the conference:
- Long-term maintainability of large LabVIEW applications
- Collaborative development workflows
- AI-assisted engineering workflows
- Modernisation of existing test systems
- Cybersecurity requirements in industrial environments
- Open-source collaboration inside the NI ecosystem
In addition to the public sessions, Jörg also participated in several community and partner-focused meetings, including the User Group Leaders meeting and discussions with NI’s Partner and Business Development teams.
One recurring conclusion from many of these conversations was reassuring: the community initiatives and technical strategies pursued by #teamhampelsoft are already strongly aligned with the direction many successful partners and users are taking globally.
Our Presentation: Generic Networking with(in) DQMH
One of the highlights for #teamhampelsoft was presenting:
“Generic Networking with(in) DQMH”
The session focused on networking concepts inside the DQMH framework itself, including architectural considerations, implementation details, and practical engineering trade-offs.
The audience engagement was excellent, with many thoughtful questions and follow-up discussions afterwards — always a good sign that a topic resonates with the community.
Slides and Recording (GDevConNA)Networking Matters
As always, one of the most valuable parts of NI Connect happened outside the presentation rooms.
The conference provided opportunities to reconnect with:
- NI leadership and R&D engineers
- Business partners from North America and Europe
- Existing and potential customers
- Members of the DQMH Consortium
- LabVIEW Champions and user group organisers
- Long-time friends from the LabVIEW ecosystem
For a company like Hampel Software Engineering, these interactions are not just social events. They directly influence technical direction, collaboration opportunities, and long-term strategy.
Especially valuable were the discussions around modern software engineering practices inside LabVIEW projects — an area where the ecosystem continues to mature significantly.
Consultant Impact Award 2025
Without question, one of the defining moments of the event was receiving NI’s 2025 Consultant Impact Award.
The award recognises the impact of consulting partners who actively contribute to the NI ecosystem through technical excellence, customer success, community engagement, and long-term collaboration.
For #teamhampelsoft, this recognition reflects many years of investment into:
- Sustainable LabVIEW architectures
- Open technical exchange
- User group organisation
- Community building
- DQMH adoption and education
- Long-term customer partnerships
Receiving this award in front of so many colleagues, partners, and friends from the community made the moment especially meaningful.
And Yes — There Was Also a Mechanical Bull
Of course, no NI event would be complete without at least some amount of chaos.
Tuesday evening’s social event took place at Billy Bob’s Texas — complete with live music, networking, Texas atmosphere, and a mechanical bull.
The music may have been slightly too loud for deep architectural discussions, but that did not stop engineers from continuing conversations about software frameworks, project management, and LabVIEW tooling late into the evening.
And naturally, Jörg attempted his very first rodeo ride.
Some engineering risks are worth taking.