What IVI Foundation does

IVI Foundation is a Delaware-incorporated, not-for-profit membership consortium (corporate office in Beaverton, Oregon) that develops and maintains open specifications for programming test and measurement instruments. Its portfolio includes the IVI Driver standards (IVI-C, IVI-COM, IVI.NET, IVI Python, and IVI ANSI-C), the SCPI command standard inherited from the 2003 SCPI Consortium merger, VISA I/O library specifications inherited from the 2002-2003 VXI*plug&play* Systems Alliance merger, the HiSLIP network protocol, the IVI-MSS (Measurement and Stimulus Subsystem) specification, and thirteen instrument class specifications covering DMMs, oscilloscopes, signal generators, power supplies, switches, power meters, spectrum analyzers, RF up/down-converters, digitizers, and counters/timers. The foundation also publishes mandatory Shared Components (IVI Configuration Server, Session Factory, Event Server; .NET DSC and CSSC; VISA shared components), maintains a Driver Registry for conformant drivers, and delivers free training through the IVI Instrument Driver Fundamentals course and GitHub-hosted specifications.

The foundation serves two primary constituencies: test system designers and engineers who need portable, multi-vendor instrument control, and instrument manufacturers (Keysight, NI/Emerson, Rohde & Schwarz, Tektronix, Teradyne, MathWorks, Pacific MindWorks and others) who build conformant drivers and shape the standards. It generates revenue exclusively through three membership tiers — Sponsor Members at $8,500/year (voting board seats), General Members at $1,750/year (voting rights), and Associate Members at $750/year (non-voting) — and distributes specifications and shared components free of charge via website, GitHub, and NuGet. The organization is governed by its member companies rather than shareholders, with no venture or private equity ownership, and operates through 3-4 face-to-face meetings per year, weekly/bi-weekly working group teleconferences, and an annual specification release cadence that culminated in the IVI Generation 2026 specification set in 2025-2026.

Name

IVI Foundation

Legal name

IVI Foundation

Website

https://ivifoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The IVI Foundation is a Delaware-incorporated not-for-profit standards consortium that develops and maintains open specifications (IVI, SCPI, VISA, HiSLIP, IVI-MSS) for programming test instruments, serving test system designers and major instrument manufacturers through tiered membership dues and freely distributed specifications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Greeley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: IVI Foundation generates revenue through membership fees at three tiers: Sponsor Members ($8,500/year with voting rights and Board representation), General Members ($1,750/year with voting rights to elect Board Directors), and Associate Members ($750/year non-voting with meeting attendance and email list access).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

IVI Foundation is an open consortium that develops and maintains specifications for programming test instruments. It publishes the IVI Driver standards (IVI-C, IVI-COM, IVI.NET, IVI Python, IVI ANSI-C), the SCPI command standard, VISA I/O library standards, the HiSLIP LAN protocol, IVI-MSS architecture, and shared software components that enable multi-vendor instrument interchangeability for the test and measurement industry.

Product overview

The IVI Foundation is an open standards consortium that develops and maintains specifications for programming test instruments. The foundation's portfolio includes multiple interconnected standards and software components: IVI Driver Architecture (supporting IVI-C, IVI-COM, and IVI.NET APIs), Shared Components for driver compatibility, the SCPI Standard for instrument command strings, VISA specifications for I/O libraries, and 13 Instrument Class Specifications (DMM, Oscilloscope, Function Generator, Power Supplies, Switch, Power Meter, Spectrum Analyzer, RF Signal Generator, Upconverter, Downconverter, Digitizer, Counter/timer). The IVI-MSS specification provides additional architectural guidance for integrated solutions. The foundation also maintains the Driver Registry for conformant driver registration and provides educational resources including training courses and getting started guides for various development environments. The recently released IVI Generation 2026 specifications introduce streamlined driver standards including support for Python, ANSI-C, and .NET 6+.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• IVI Driver Architecture

Quantifiable outcome

• 13 instrument classes defined for interchangeability (DMM, Oscilloscope, Arbitrary waveform generator, DC/AC power supply, Switch, Power meter, Spectrum analyzer, RF signal generator, Upconverter, Downconverter, Digitizer, Counter/timer)

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• SCPI ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instrumentation) Consortium merged with the IVI Foundation in late 2003. IVI is now responsible for all ongoing work on the SCPI standard, which specifies the command strings sent to instruments to control them.
• VXI*plug&play* Systems AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe VXI*plug&play* Systems Alliance voted to become part of the IVI Foundation in late 2002, with the IVI Foundation Board approving in spring 2003. IVI maintains and enhances VXI*plug&play* standards including VISA and provides APIs in C, .NET, and LabVIEW.
• LXI ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLXI Consortium collaborated with IVI Foundation in 2025 to develop IVI language-specific specifications for Python and ANSI-C, based on the IVI Driver Core Specification. Joint face-to-face meetings held 3-4 times per year.
• Keysight TechnologiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSponsor member providing IVI-COM drivers for instruments and instrument control software. Joe Mueller from Keysight taught IVI Instrument Driver Fundamentals course.
• NI (National Instruments)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding sponsor member providing IVI-C class and specific drivers and instrument control software. Co-produced video demos for IVI getting started guides.
• Rohde & SchwarzcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSponsor member providing IVI-COM drivers. Hosted IVI face-to-face meeting November 10-12, 2025 in Munich, Germany.
• TeradynecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGeneral member and host of LXI/IVI Joint face-to-face meetings October 2024 at Boston facility. Industry leader in VXI instrumentation committed to open standards support.
• MathWorksminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGeneral member providing interactive tools for consistent instrument communication and control independent of hardware manufacturer or driver via MATLAB and Simulink.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• VITA Standards Organization: Open standards organization for VMEbus and VPX-based modular computing used in defense, aerospace, and test systems. Closely comparable business model (membership-funded standards) and adjacent technical scope in modular instrumentation.
• LXI Consortium: Sister consortium that defines the LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation standard for Ethernet-based test instruments. Co-develops IVI Python and ANSI-C specifications with IVI Foundation and operates an analogous open-standards membership model.
• GenICam (under EMVA): Machine vision interface standard maintained by the European Machine Vision Association that provides a unified programming interface across camera vendors. Directly comparable to IVI's role for general test instruments, but specialized for vision hardware.
• PICMG: Consortium that develops open specifications for embedded computing architectures (COM Express, CompactPCI, AdvancedTCA). Operates an identical open-consortium model serving instrumentation and industrial computing customers overlapping with IVI's user base.
• ASAM e.V. Association for Standardization of Automation and Measuring Systems that defines open standards for automotive test, measurement, and simulation. Comparable non-profit, member-driven standards development model targeting test and measurement workflows.
• PXI Systems Alliance: Industry consortium that maintains the PXI (PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation) standard for modular test and measurement platforms. Shares the same target market, member profile (instrument vendors and integrators), and standards-body operating model as IVI Foundation.

Broad incumbents

• Keysight Technologies: Major instrument vendor and IVI Sponsor member that ships IVI-COM drivers and integrates IVI standards into its proprietary test software stack. Comparable as a major T&M ecosystem player whose product strategy directly intersects with IVI specifications.
• Object Management Group (OMG): International standards consortium that develops interoperable enterprise and embedded specifications (UML, CORBA, DDS). Operates the same vendor-neutral, member-funded standards development model at significantly larger scale.
• IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society: Professional society and standards body covering the broader instrumentation and measurement field, including IEEE-488 and related foundational standards IVI builds upon. Larger and more general in scope, but materially comparable in function.

Emerging players

• Khronos Group: Open consortium that creates royalty-free interoperability standards for graphics, compute, and vision (Vulkan, OpenCL, OpenVX). Same non-profit, member-driven standards development model as IVI Foundation, applied to adjacent technical domains.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/IviFoundation
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/IVIFoundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about IVI Foundation