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EEVblog #1032 - John Kenny Keysight Interview
Posted by
EEVblog
on 16 Oct, 2017 23:36
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Interview with John Kenny from Keysight
Part 1 of several more to come, released daily, stay tuned!
Patrons and forum supports will get all the videos early (still need to render them)
John Kenny is presently the Technology and Efficiency Manager for the 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 the System Products Group, which covered all of the GP products, including Power Products, DMMs, Function Generators, Counters and Data Acquisition products. He was directly involved in the development of the breadth of the GP products that you see in the Keysigt catalog today, with more on their way. Recently, as part of the 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 the EISG Center of Excellence, which includes products developed in Japan, Penang, Singapore, Loveland and Budd Lake.
Part 2:
Part 3:
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#1 Reply
Posted by
dr.diesel
on 16 Oct, 2017 23:38
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That was a great interview! Looking forward to the rest.
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#2 Reply
Posted by
TheSteve
on 16 Oct, 2017 23:46
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#3 Reply
Posted by
retrolefty
on 17 Oct, 2017 00:06
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Nice interview. However I will always miss the HP of the 70s and 80s and spending hours drooling over their massive yearly catalogs.
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#4 Reply
Posted by
lem_ix
on 17 Oct, 2017 00:22
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Great interview, can't wait for the rest
Hope we get more guests like this aswell.
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#5 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 17 Oct, 2017 01:51
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Another 2 hours worth mostly edited now, just have the tidy up and render. Bit hard with it being Daddy Day Care Tuesday though.
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Really enjoyed this interview.
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#7 Reply
Posted by
Dubbie
on 17 Oct, 2017 03:15
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Excellent interview.
This sort of thing does a lot for the perception of a company IMHO
Looking forward to the rest.
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#8 Reply
Posted by
haudio
on 17 Oct, 2017 03:41
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Hey Dave,
Great interview!
I recently retired from the HP Storage division in 2015 and had worked with both John and Ron at the HP New Jersey Division back in the late 70's (I'm sure he remembers the 62605 power supplies). I'm glad to hear that Keysight is working on bringing back the "HP Way" which is Bill and Dave's legacy. As John said, the real heart of HP lies in Keysite's test and measurement products. Even though they did not get the HP name, they did get the better part of the split with the HP product line.
In my opinion, John was being "polite" with describing Cara Carleton Fiorina's tenure as CEO - she was a "talking head" and did not know her arse from a tea kettle when it came to technolgy. She was hired by the then HP board of directors to complete the HP splitup and complete the HP/Compacq merger - another one of the many fiacios she directed during her tenure. Bill and Dave wanted to remain strong in test and measurement products, but after Bill passed on in Jan of 2001 it was less than a year (Nov 2001) that BOD pushed the HP/Compaq merger through. Today, many years later, the latest mutations of HP (HP Enterprize and HP Inc.) are stumbling along and trying to live off off the HP name.
Rock on Keysight!
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#9 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 17 Oct, 2017 06:53
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Description for next 24min video:
This one covers the early days of PCB tools, Rubylith, gerber copying, simulation, EEsoft RF design and layout tool, Sabre by Synopsis, Matlab, Simulink, Windows CE development and discontinuation in 2021, what Microsoft does well, software bloat, Windows CE support in microcontrollers, Linux, RTOS's, product boot time, the problems with open source software, the Linksys router, repair, product schematics, clones, design patents, the importance of trade secrets, Chinese company prosecution, creating the Rigol monster, buying companies, IOT web security and zombie multimeters!
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#10 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 17 Oct, 2017 06:55
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In my opinion, John was being "polite" with describing Cara Carleton Fiorina's tenure as CEO
I got that impression
- she was a "talking head" and did not know her arse from a tea kettle when it came to technolgy.
Sounds like the current Youtube CEO
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#11 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 17 Oct, 2017 06:56
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Excellent interview.
This sort of thing does a lot for the perception of a company IMHO
Indeed, you can't help by be impressed with what Keysight are doing.
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#12 Reply
Posted by
razberik
on 17 Oct, 2017 08:14
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25000pcs of 34401A out there !
I have two of them, Agilent branded.
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This was a very valuable interview.
So much good info, I will watch it again, soon.
I think he said 25000 of the 34401A per year, is that correct?
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#14 Reply
Posted by
rs20
on 17 Oct, 2017 13:13
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So for a DC-DC converter with a digital control loop, I assume the output voltage feedback must be converted to digital using an ADC? What sort of sampling rate would the ADC have?
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#15 Reply
Posted by
nctnico
on 17 Oct, 2017 15:15
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This was a very valuable interview.
So much good info, I will watch it again, soon.
I think he said 25000 of the 34401A per year, is that correct?
That is what I have heard. Maybe they have sold around 250k pieces over the entire lifespan?
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#16 Reply
Posted by
thm_w
on 17 Oct, 2017 19:18
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Such a good interview, very surprised he designed that front panel.
So for a DC-DC converter with a digital control loop, I assume the output voltage feedback must be converted to digital using an ADC? What sort of sampling rate would the ADC have?
Yes, in the 100s of ksps.
This for example has a 12-bit ADC at 267 ksps, various PWMs, and a ~14-bit DAC:
http://www.ti.com/product/UCD3138/descriptionI believe he mentioned 16-bit ADC in the video, when talking about the electric car supplies, so presumably higher power would want more resolution.
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#17 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 17 Oct, 2017 20:26
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I think he said 25000 of the 34401A per year, is that correct?
Correct. Twice actually in the interview.
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#18 Reply
Posted by
Macbeth
on 17 Oct, 2017 22:53
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Great interview!
But I don't accept why manufacturers no longer provide schematics - especially to products aimed at Electronic Engineers! - even in the 1970's the mysterious parts of test equipment where documented as "refer to manufacturer" for precision resistor and zener sets that have been characterised in-house for example, and that is fair and trade secrets, etc.
In this day and age this mystery is in those FPGA's, CPLD's and microcontrollers that have their fuses locked protecting the code, and of course ASIC's. If the manufacturer does not want to give out a flash file then replacing any of them you are so out of luck.
Also, the schematics of anything truly valuable get leaked or reverse engineered anyway - because everything is made in China - so why not have an official paid for proper service manual WITH schematics?
You can argue that modern equipment is so much more reliable and technicians no longer have the skills to deal with surface mount vs through hole, but that's a load of bollocks when the reality is manufacturers are making things to be chucked in land-fill and pollute the world rather than letting customers or third party service engineers fix something as simple as any discrete component. In the case of white goods they are deliberately engineering in failure, much like the Phoebus cartel of the early 1900's.
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Just wanted to say as well what a great interview it was! Thanks Dave!
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#20 Reply
Posted by
nctnico
on 17 Oct, 2017 23:30
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Great interview!
But I don't accept why manufacturers no longer provide schematics -
You can argue that modern equipment is so much more reliable and technicians no longer have the skills to deal with surface mount vs through hole, but that's a load of bollocks when the reality is manufacturers are making things to be chucked in land-fill and pollute the world rather than letting customers or third party service engineers fix something as simple as any discrete component.
You can do a lot with just a block diagram which usually is in the service manual. The lack of schematics doesn't seem to hold back third party repair services anyway. Over the past decades I have repaired tons of stuff without schematics; it just took a bit longer.
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#21 Reply
Posted by
STMartin
on 18 Oct, 2017 01:23
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I know the answer is probably, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it"; but just out of morbid curiosity, how much does an Xpedition or Dx Designer license cost?
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#22 Reply
Posted by
TheSteve
on 18 Oct, 2017 03:42
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I think we all knew WinCE was a terrible idea, shame they still used it.
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#23 Reply
Posted by
Dubbie
on 18 Oct, 2017 04:20
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It was probably tempting because all the boring network stuff was taken care of.
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#24 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 18 Oct, 2017 04:33
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You can argue that modern equipment is so much more reliable and technicians no longer have the skills to deal with surface mount vs through hole, but that's a load of bollocks when the reality is manufacturers are making things to be chucked in land-fill and pollute the world rather than letting customers or third party service engineers fix something as simple as any discrete component. In the case of white goods they are deliberately engineering in failure, much like the Phoebus cartel of the early 1900's.
That's not what Keysight are doing though.