National Instruments has closed off its business year 2004 and has happily announced a turnover of 514 M US$. This result is 21 % higher than the year 2003. The net profit is 48.6 M US$ and is 46 % more than that of the previous year. NI has therefore exceeded the turnover threshold of a half billion US$ and sees itself well on the way to its long-term goal of 1 B US$ for the year 2008. The instrumentation company also recently obtained good marks from its workers. As the first employer in the Fortune top 100 in the USA, NI reached an excellent 40th place.