Keysight Technologies has launched the i7090 Massively Parallel and Scalable Board Test System. This new solution focuses on enhancing high-volume PCBA (printed circuit board assembly) manufacturing. It provides various testing features in a compact, flexible platform. This helps manufacturers work more efficiently. It boosts throughput, cuts costs, and simplifies test lines in electronics factories.
Electronics manufacturers face growing pressure. They need to test complex boards at higher volumes. At the same time, they must keep factory sizes small and control quality costs.Traditional setups, which rely on separate testers for in-circuit (ICT), functional (FCT), programming, LED testing, boundary scan and so on, can be inefficient, slow, and space-intensive.
The Keysight i7090 tackles these challenges. It has one unified platform that supports up to 20 test cores at once. This parallel setup lets us test many boards at once. This speeds up test cycles and boosts manufacturing efficiency.
Key Features & Benefits
Integrated Multi-Test Capability: The i7090 combines ICT, FCT, flash programming, LED testing, and boundary scan all in one device. This means you don’t need separate testing stations anymore.
High-Volume Parallel Efficiency: Manufacturers can run up to 20 tests at the same time. This boosts throughput significantly.
Compact, Modular & Scalable Design: The system has a 600 mm footprint. It scales easily to meet growing production needs. This helps optimize factory space and lowers reconfiguration costs.
Streamlined Production Workflows: The i7090 combines several testing stages into one platform. This makes integration into the test line easier and cuts down on complexity.
Carol Leh, Vice President of Keysight’s Electronic Industrial Solutions Group, described the i7090 as “a new benchmark for high-volume electronics testing.” She emphasized that its parallelism and comprehensive test coverage help electronics manufacturers “accelerate production, ensure product quality, and confidently scale for the future of smart manufacturing.”
Keysight will showcase the i7090 at Productronica 2025 in Munich (November 18–21, Booth A1.576), giving visitors a firsthand look at the system’s performance and footprint.
What This Means for the Electronics & IoT Industry
The i7090 launch impacts the electronics and IoT industries. It affects quality control, automation, and smart manufacturing.
1. Boosting Throughput in High-Volume Manufacturing
For electronics makers, testing can slow down production. This is especially true in the consumer, automotive, and IoT sectors. Keysight’s system enables up to 20 parallel tests, greatly reducing test cycle time. This leads to quicker turnaround, reduced testing costs per unit, and improved production line capacity. As companies increase IoT device production, efficiency is crucial, especially with complex PCBs.
2. Reducing Capital & Operational Costs
Traditional test workflows require multiple dedicated pieces of test equipment, each optimized for one test type (ICT, FCT, programming, etc.). This not only increases capital expenditure (CAPEX) but also complicates factory layouts. The i7090’s unified platform consolidates all those test functions into a single, modular system – reducing the number of instruments needed, minimizing footprints, and cutting operational complexity.
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3. Enabling Flexible, Smart Manufacturing
One of the key trends in modern electronics manufacturing is smart factories – lines that can adapt and scale with different product variants. The i7090 has a modular design. This lets manufacturers begin with a smaller setup and easily scale up later. They can do this without major retooling. This flexibility is great for IoT manufacturing. Here, product cycles can change quickly.
4. Improving Quality & Reliability
Using different test methods at the same time speeds up production and enhances quality assurance. Simultaneous in-circuit and functional tests help catch faults earlier, while programming and boundary scan ensure that firmware and interconnects are verified correctly. For safety-critical electronics – such as automotive systems, industrial controllers, or medical IoT devices – this can translate into fewer field failures and higher reliability.
5. Competitive Advantage for Test Vendors
For Keysight, the i7090 boosts its role in high-volume production testing. It offers a system that handles complex boards efficiently and at scale. This gives Keysight an advantage over competitors using siloed test architectures. Keysight could draw in new customers from OEMs, contract manufacturers, and electronics companies. These firms are expanding in IoT device production.
Challenges & Considerations
While the i7090 offers compelling benefits, there are some challenges that manufacturers will need to consider:
Initial Investment: A high-parallel system may require a big upfront cost. However, you can save on test time and labor in the long run.
Integration Complexity: A unified platform helps. However, careful planning is needed to integrate it into current operations. This is especially true for retrofitting older factories.
Skill Requirements: Operating 20 parallel test cores may require more advanced process control and monitoring to ensure consistent yield.
Scalability Awareness: While modular, customers need to carefully project future test capacity to choose the right configuration, avoiding under- or over-provisioning.
Conclusion
Keysight’s i7090 Massively Parallel Board Test System is poised to reshape PCB testing for high-volume electronics and IoT manufacturing. By unifying multiple tests, supporting massive parallelism, and offering a compact and scalable architecture, it can help manufacturers meet the rising demand for increasingly complex PCBA designs – without sacrificing quality or cost efficiency.
Electronics companies are expanding for smart devices, autonomous systems, and industrial IoT. Fast, reliable, and cost-effective testing will be key to standing out. The i7090 could be a key tool in smart manufacturing. It allows for faster production, improved quality, and more flexible factory setups.