Question Request - John Kenny - Keysight Interview

[EEVblog]

John Kenny from Keysight will be visiting the lab this Monday and I'll have a chance to interview him.
This will be technical and historical related, no marketing crap.

Submit your question here!
Can't guarantee I'll ask them, but will be good to have a list.

Bio for those interested, he's one of the old guard at HP
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-kenny-4069064/

John Kenny is presently the Technology and Efficiency Manager for our Electronic Instruments and Systems Group. After graduating from Lehigh University in 1978, he started in Hewlett Packard, working in our Modular Power System team, designing modular supplies, and later moved to our Lab and Industrial Power group, where he was involved in Analog, Digital and Firmware design for the next 20 years, involved in the rollout of our many programmable power products. In 2005, he moved into a new role as the Technology Manager for our System Products Group, which covered all of our GP products, including Power Products, DMMs, Function Generators, Counters and Data Acquisition products. He was directly involved in the development of the breadth of our GP products that you see in our catalog today, with more on their way. Recently, as part of our reorganization in 2015 as part of the new Keysight, he became responsible for Technology and Efficiency management for most of our non-RF based products, as part of our EISG Center of Excellence, which includes products developed in Japan, Penang, Singapore, Loveland and Budd Lake. We are creating new solutions today to meet the needs of the ever changing needs of the Test and Measurement Industry over a wide range of technologies and form factors.

[Dubbie]

Not sure if it would be polite but you could ask about the recent multimeter recall [emoji3]
Would be interesting to hear about from an internal perspective. May be “too soon” though.

[Rbastler]

Could you ask him wy they stopped putting schematics in the service manuals of their devices at some point ?

[PA0PBZ]

Not sure if it would be polite but you could ask about the recent multimeter recall [emoji3]

You mean the 3446X series? Yeah, I also wonder what happened to the promised 1 year warranty extension - I'm still waiting for that.

[Towger]

When is the next name change due?


Is there going to be a replacement for the 3458A?  Are the rumours they have lost the ability/knowledge to produce one (a replacement) true?

[EEVblog]

Any technical non-political questions? 

[apelly]

What's (was) his...
Career highlight?
Favourite personal project?
Favourite work project?
Staff discount?
Golf handicap?
Opinion on graduates/universities?
Favourite book?

[MrW0lf]

What record length is used for math on 4Mpts X-scopes?

[Dubbie]

If you can prod him for any interesting stories about developing new products. ie. things they thought might be easier than they turned out to be, unexpected discoveries while solving problems etc.

[mikeselectricstuff]

In retrospect, was it a mistake to engage Rigol to make their low-end scope, competition-wise.

[razberik]

Any technical non-political questions? 

That is difficult. Everything you ask about Agilent is political in principle.
Technical questions are often asked here and answered here by users.
Perhaps you can ask how to unlock DSOX1000 to higher model.

[rs20]

Given that Keysight is an ASIC-focussed company (at least compared to the lower-cost options), how has the ever-improving performance and cost of FPGAs affected design decisions? Or, how do ASICs still provide an advantage when FPGAs today offer the performance of state-of-the-art ASICs XX years ago?

Or maybe for a more open-format version of the question: FPGA vs ASICs. Discuss.  (Obviously this is covered at length all over the internet, but his specific answer might be interesting?)

[nctnico]

Any technical non-political questions? 

What would interest me: When are they going to release entry level scopes with a decent memory length like real 20Mpts (or more) per channel? And add things like moveable reference traces which can be used for math? They are starting to fall behind on basic stuff.

[Deridex]

Since Tektronix etc. are releasing scopes with very big memorys: Whats Keysights plan about that topic in the future?

[MarkL]

Could you ask him wy they stopped putting schematics in the service manuals of their devices at some point ?

I like this question too.

John is from the days when they used to publish extensive service information and I'd like to hear his perspective.  You're lucky if you even get a block diagram in the "Service Guide" now-a-days.

And even after something goes obsolete, still no information is released.  A lot of older but potentially useful equipment ends up in the landfill as a result.  What a waste.

[lem_ix]

Why are there no real 1mV and 2mV ranges on the megazoom scopes.

[RoGeorge]

Could you ask him wy they stopped putting schematics in the service manuals of their devices at some point ?

This ^^^

[VintageHenk]

What's his favourite easter egg?

[TimInCanada]

And even after something goes obsolete, still no information is released.  A lot of older but potentially useful equipment ends up in the landfill as a result.  What a waste.

In terms of a question, how about: is there a way that more technical information on obsoleted products could be released?   Dave himself ran into this problem in EEVblog #982 - HP54616B 500MHz Oscilloscope REPAIR.  HP/Agilent/Keysight repair the equipment while it's supported.  There must be service information in existence.

[buck converter]

Thoughts on consumer ink jets?

[technogeeky]

What is the most useful instrument that the majority of hobbyists don't have on their bench, and why is it the source meter?

[Towger]

Is there going to be a replacement for the 3458A?  Are the rumours they have lost the ability/knowledge to produce one (a replacement) true?

Well, did you ask the question?

Looks looks like we can infer the answer from: https://youtu.be/8JwYlFtA1HM?t=2m3s 

[EEVblog]

Is there going to be a replacement for the 3458A?  Are the rumours they have lost the ability/knowledge to produce one (a replacement) true?

Well, did you ask the question?

Yes I did, along with most others here.
2.5 hours of footage I have to edit into several videos.

[Towger]

Is there going to be a replacement for the 3458A?  Are the rumours they have lost the ability/knowledge to produce one (a replacement) true?

Well, did you ask the question?

Yes I did, along with most others here.
2.5 hours of footage I have to edit into several videos.

Thanks.

[Dubbie]

Looking forward to these videos Dave, if the first little snippet on the meter specs issue is any indication. He seems very un-corporate. The perfect sort of guest for you!