AUSTIN, TX-National Instruments (Nasdaq: NATI) announced Q1 non-GAAP revenue of $262 million, a new first quarter record and a 10% increase from Q1 2011. Orders were up 13% year-over-year in Q1, with backlog increasing by $6 million during the quarter. In Q1, the company's orders greater than $20,000 grew 25% year-over-year, and the average order size reached a new first quarter record of approximately $4,400.

National Instruments also announced that during Q1 it won the largest application sale in the history of the company. This application involves the use of NI LabVIEW system design software and the NI PXI hardware platform to rapidly develop a production test solution for a high-volume electronics device. Year-to-date through April 25, 2012, the company has received $17 million in orders for this application, which is now gearing up for high volume production. The company anticipates receiving additional orders for this application in the range of $10 million to $15 million over the remainder of the year. Only $3 million of this revenue has been recognized in Q1 and National Instruments anticipates recognizing the remainder over the coming quarters.

"Over the last quarter century, National Instruments has been providing disruptive technology to the industry," says Dr. James Truchard, co-founder, president and CEO. "During that time, I believe there has been a significant transition toward our graphical system design approach, which involves technology that harnesses productive software and modular hardware. I am excited to see our customers using LabVIEW to design their test and control systems and leading the industry to the era of software-designed instrumentation."