Frost & Sullivan of San Jose, Calif., has released the results of a study of the European industrial vision systems markets that suggest revenues will almost quadruple by 2006. Total market revenues are expected to rise from $574.9 million in 1999 to $2.1 billion, driven by flexibility in automation and growth in the electronic components market. The largest market sectors are for one- and two-dimensional metrology, guidance and web inspection systems.

The report notes that no company plays a dominant role in the market; 81.6 percent of the firms control a market share of less than 5 percent each. Challenges identified for the industry include the reduction of capital costs and minimizing user training.