Birger Schneider
Founder & CEO

Birger Schneider was founder (1992), owner, and CEO of microLEX Systems, a focused company for test products and test system integration. Products and solutions of the company included VideoMASTER, a highly popular test solution for video products, HearMASTER, a tool solution for hearing aid test and general audio test, as well as several other dedicated solutions for tests of printed circuit boards, microelectronic products, etc. After 16 years as an independent company, supplying test solutions to not least large companies in the USA, Mexico, Asia and Europe, Birger Schneider sold microLEX Systems to National Instruments (NI) in early 2008.

From February 2008 until January 2011, Birger Schneider continued as Managing Director for NI owned microLEX Systems. During the period, the company changed name to National Instruments Engineering and gradually changed from a more broad-based test solutions company to become exclusively an R&D branch for National Instruments - focusing on video and audio testing solutions for NI. In February, 2011, he undertook a new responsibility as Director, Business Development for Media Test Solutions for National Instruments until March 2012, where he transferred to become Managing Director of Chamaj Consult, one of his private owned companies.

Before starting microLEX Systems in 1992, Birger Schneider worked for 19 year at the Danish technological institute for applied electronics, ElektronikCentralen (now Delta Institutes). His first assignment was to establish a test service activity for analog microelectronics; later on in 1975 the activity under his lead was transformed into a general test house activity for microelectronics for digital products, and where the activity was expanded to include among other things a machine park of “Big Iron” automatic test equipment (ATE), such as Sentry VII, Series 20 and 80 from Schlumberger, Trillium systems from LTX, systems from Hewlett Packard, etc. , and also board test activities. He and his team also undertook a large number of R&D projects in reliability assessment of microelectronics.
During the last 6 years (1987-1992) of his employment at the research institute, Birger Schneider was promoted and served as Vice President for ElektronikCentralen, being responsible for technological development of the institute. During that period, and actually starting already in 1983, he was also responsible for large R&D activities in test system developments for ATE systems and boundary scan based test solutions.

From 1978 and up into the early years of 2000s, Birger Schneider was involved in setting up European collaborative R&D projects in microelectronics, first as an advisor, assisting the European Commission in setting up the Microelectronics Regulation - forerunner of later larger R&D initiatives for microelectronics and other IT R&D - and later on the first ESPRIT programs. During the period, he served as reviewer for the Commission on large collaborative Pan European R&D projects. He and his teams, first at ElektronikCentralen, and later on at microLEX Systems, were involved in several R&D projects as partners in cooperative projects with companies like Philips, Siemens, Nokia, Thomson CSF, Bosch and many others.

Birger Schneider has published many papers on testing of microelectronics and electronics in general. Over the years, he has held several positions in national and international engineering societies, including vice chair of the "Electrotechnical Science", Danish Academy of Technical Sciences, chairman of the European wide Computer Aided Design for VLSI workshops (CAVE) for the last 17 of 22 consecutive bi-annual seminars for European researchers, chairman of the IEEE Computer Society "European Test Technology Technical Committee", member of the EU Commission “Microelectronics Advisory Board”, a small advisory board of high ranking industrialists to the EU Commission, etc.

In 1979, Birger Schneider received in the “Electroprice Award” for outstanding contribution in research from the Danish Society of Chemical, Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

During 1984 and 1985, Birger Schneider was driving and executing a major initiative on behalf of the Danish Academy of technical Sciences to set up an essential microelectronics processing activity in Denmark for R&D and education in microelectronics, “Halvlederteknologi i Danmark”, project 1984-143/001-84.317. The initiative later on resulted in building a new microelectronics processing facility at the Technical University , Lyngby, Denmark.

Parallel to his employment as Vice President at ElektronikCentralen, 1987-1992, Birger Schneider was responsible for part of a major satellite TV broadcasted continuing education program in Europe, more specifically responsible for developing video education in microelectronics associated areas under “EuroPACE”. This organization transmitted frequently to major electronic companies, universities and research organizations throughout Europe. 

From 2003 and onwards, Birger Schneider has - together with Nordic colleagues - been involved in setting up and running a series of seminars on best practices in electronic test, TestForum, under Nordic Test Forum. The initiative was originally started in Norway and in 2003 expanded to other Nordic Countries, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and most recently the Baltic States.