Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A), or Agilent, is a company which designs and manufactures electronic and bio-analytical measurement instruments and equipment for measurement and evaluation. The company's headquarters are in Santa Clara, California, in the Silicon Valley region.
Many of Agilent's predecessor product lines were developed by Hewlett-Packard, the American computing company founded in 1939. In 1999, the product lines not directly connected with computers, storage, and imaging were grouped into a separate company (Agilent), the stock of which was offered to the public in an initial public offering. The Agilent IPO may have been the largest in the history of Silicon Valley.[7]
The company thus created in 1999 was an $8 billion company with about 47,000 employees, manufacturing scientific instruments, semiconductors, optical networking devices, and electronic test equipment for telecom and wireless R&D and production.

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (Agilent), incorporated in May 1999, is a measurement company providing bio-analytical and electronic measurement solutions to the communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis industries. During the fiscal year ended October 31, 2010 (fiscal 2010), the Company operated in three segments: electronic measurement business, the chemical analysis business and the life sciences business. Its electronic measurement business addresses the communications, electronics and other industries. Its chemical analysis business focuses on the petrochemical, environmental, forensics and food safety industries. In February 2011, the Company acquired Lab901. In March 2011, the Company acquired BIOCIUS Life Sciences, Inc.
The Company’s life sciences business focuses on the pharmaceutical, biotech, academic and government, bio-agriculture and food safety industries. In addition to its three businesses, it conducts centralized research through Agilent Technologies Laboratories (Agilent Labs). On May 14, 2010, the Company completed the acquisition of Varian, Inc. (Varian), a supplier of scientific instrumentation and associated consumables for life science and applied market applications. Varian's products include analytical instruments, research products and related software, consumable products, accessories and services, as well as vacuum products and related services and accessories. On May 1, 2010, it completed the sale of its Network Solutions Division (NSD) of its electronic measurement business to JDS Uniphase Corporation. NSD included Agilent's network assurance solutions, network protocol test and drive test products. On February 2, 2010, the Company sold Hycor Biomedical Inc., a subsidiary of Agilent and part of its life sciences business, to Linden LLC, a healthcare private equity firm. It sells its products through direct sales.
Electronic Measurement Business
The Company’s electronic measurement business provides electronic measurement instruments and systems, software design tools and related services that are used in the design, development, manufacture, installation, deployment and operation of electronics equipment, and microscopy products. Related services include start-up assistance, instrument productivity and application services and instrument calibration and repair. It also offers customization, consulting and optimization services throughout the customer's product lifecycle. It sells products and services applicable to a range of communications networks and systems, including wireless communications and microwave networks, voice, broadband, data, and fiber optic networks. Test products include Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software, vector and signal analyzers, signal generators, vector network analyzers, one box testers, oscilloscopes, logic and protocol analyzers, and bit-error ratio testers.
The Company’s wireless communications and microwave network products include radio frequency and microwave test instruments and electronic design automation software tools. These products are required for the design and production of wireless network products, communications links, cellular handsets and base stations. It provides handheld products for the installation and maintenance of wireless networks. Its electronic design automation software tools and instruments are used by radio frequency integrated circuit design engineers to model, simulate and analyze communications product designs at the circuit and system levels.
The Company’s suite of fiber optic test products measure and analyze a range of optical and electrical parameters in fiber optic networks and their components. Components which can be tested with Agilent solutions include source lasers, optical amplifiers, filters and other passive components. Test products include optical component analyzers, optical power meters and optical spectrum analyzers. It sells the products into the general purpose test market, including general purpose instruments, modular instruments and test software, digital test products, semiconductor and board test solutions, electronics manufacturing test equipment, atomic force microscopes and radio frequency and network surveillance solutions. The Company’s general purpose products include spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, signal generators, logic analyzers, digitizing oscilloscopes, voltmeters, multimeters, frequency counters, bench and system power supplies, function generators and waveform synthesizers. Modular instruments and test software are used by the designers and manufacturers of electronic devices as the building blocks of systems that can be configured for a range of test applications.
The Company’s digital test products are used by research and development engineers across a range of industries to validate the function and performance of their digital product and system designs. These designs include a range of products from digital control circuits to high speed systems, such as computer servers and the gaming consoles. The test products offered include oscilloscopes, logic and serial protocol analyzers, logic-signal sources and data generators.
The Company’s semiconductor and board test solutions enable customers to develop and test semiconductors, test and inspect printed circuit boards, perform functional testing, and measure position and distance information to the sub-nanometer level. It is a supplier of parametric test instruments and systems used to examine semiconductor wafers during the manufacturing process. Its in-circuit test system helps identify quality defects, such as faulty or incorrect parts, that affect electrical performance. Its laser interferometer measurement systems provide precise position or distance information for dimensional measurements. Its atomic force microscopes (AFM) are imaging devices. An AFM allows researchers to observe and manipulate molecular and atomic level features. Its portfolio of AFM products provides customers with tools for a range of nanotechnology applications, including semiconductor, data storage, polymers, materials science and life science studies.
The Company’s surveillance systems and subsystems are used by defense and government engineers and technicians to detect, locate and analyze signals of interest. The products offered include receivers for detecting radio frequency signals, probes for detecting wire line signals and software that enables the identification and analysis of these signals. Agilent's electronic measurement customers include contract manufacturers of electronic products, handset manufacturers and network equipment manufacturers who design, develop, manufacture and install network equipment, service providers who implement, maintain and manage communication networks and services, and companies who design, develop, and manufacture semiconductors and semiconductor lithography systems. Its customers use its products to conduct research and development, manufacture, install and maintain radio frequency, microwave frequency, digital, semiconductor, and optical products and systems and conduct nanotechnology research.
The Company competes with Aeroflex Incorporated, Anritsu Corporation, Ansys Corporation, Applied Wave Research, Inc., EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering, Inc., Rohde & Schwartz GmbH & Co. KG, Spirent plc, Danaher Corporation, Bruker Corporation, LeCroy Corporation, National Instruments Corporation, Rohde & Schwartz GmbH & Co. KG, Teradyne, Inc., Test Research Inc., and Zygo Corporation.
Chemical Analysis Business
The Company’s chemical analysis business provides application-focused solutions that include instruments, software, consumables and services that enable customers to identify, quantify and analyze the physical and chemical properties of substances and products. Its product categories in chemical analysis include gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, spectroscopy, vacuum technology, and consumables and services. Agilent provides custom or standard analyzers configured for specific chemical analysis applications, such as detailed speciation of a complex hydrocarbon stream, calculation of gas calorific values in the field, or analysis of a new bio-fuel formulation. It also offers related software, accessories and consumable products for these and other similar instruments. Its mass spectrometry (MS) products incorporate technologies for measuring mass, including single-quadrupole, triple-quadrupole, and ion trap mass spectrometers. It combines its mass spectrometers with other instruments to instruments, such as gas chromatograph mass spectrometers (GC/MS), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers (ICP-MS). It also offers related software, accessories and consumable products for these and other similar instruments.
The Company’s spectroscopy instruments include atomic absorption (AA) spectrometers, inductively coupled plasma-optical emissions spectrometers (ICP-OES), inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometers (ICP-MS), fluorescence spectrophotometers, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometers, Fourier Transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrophotometers, near-infrared (NIR) spectrophotometers, Raman spectrometers and sample automation products. It also offers related software, accessories and consumable products for these and other similar instruments.
The Company’s vacuum technologies products are used to create, control, measure and test vacuum environments in life science, industrial and scientific applications where clean and vacuum environments are needed. Products include a range of vacuum pumps, including diffusion, turbomolecular and ion getter; intermediate vacuum pumps, including rotary vane, sorption and dry scroll, vacuum instrumentation, including vacuum control instruments, sensor gauges and meters, and vacuum components, including valves, flanges and other mechanical hardware. Its products also include helium mass spectrometry and helium-sensing leak detection instruments used to identify and measure leaks in hermetic or vacuum environments. The Company offers a range of services, including an exchange and rebuild program, assistance with the design and integration of vacuum systems, applications support and training in basic and advanced vacuum technologies. The Company offers a range of startup, operational, educational and compliance support services for its measurement and data handling systems. Its support services include maintenance, troubleshooting, repair and training for its chemical and bioinstrumentation analysis hardware and software products.
The Company competes with Bruker Corporation, PerkinElmer Inc., Shimadzu Corporation and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
Life Sciences Business
The Company’s life sciences business provides application-focused technologies and solutions, which include instruments, software, consumables and services. Its product categories include liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, microarrays, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) instrumentation, related bioreagents, electrophoresis, laboratory automation and robotics, software and informatics, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, and, consumables and services. The Agilent liquid chromatograph (LC) portfolio is modular in construction and can be configured as analytical and preparative systems. Agilent's liquid chromatography/ mass spectrometer (LC/MS) portfolio includes instruments built around five analyzer types, such as single quadrupole, triple quadrupole, ion trap, time-of-flight (TOF) and quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF). It is a provider of microarray-based, genomics research solutions. It provides products for sequencing platforms. During fiscal 2010, it released SureSelect XT Target Enrichment System, the customizable liquid genome partitioning / enrichment sample prep system. Its portfolio of PCR instrumentation, reagents and kits, coupled with its other products, such as microarrays and target enrichment systems for sequencing, provides a range of workflow solutions to customers in the genomics marketplace.
Agilent is a supplier of electrophoretic separation solutions. The 2100 Bioanalyzer analyzes biomolecules or cells in microfluidic networks of channels and wells etched into glass chips. The 3100 OFFGEL Fractionator resolves proteins or peptides by isoelectric point with liquid-phase recovery. It provides software for instrument control, data acquisition, data analysis, laboratory content and business process management, and informatics. With OpenLab, Agilent has open architecture, which enables capture, analyze, and share scientific data throughout the lab and across the enterprise. It offers a range of consumable products, which support its LC, and MS technology platforms. These consumable products include sample preparation products; self manufactured LC columns and instrument replacement parts, and consumable supplies to meet its customers' analysis needs. It offers a range of startup, operational, educational and compliance support services for measurement and data handling systems. Its support services include maintenance, troubleshooting, repair and training for all of its chemical and bioinstrumentation analysis hardware and software products.
The Company competes with Affymetrix Inc., Bruker Corp., Danaher Corporation, Illumina, Inc., Life Technologies Corp., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and Waters Corp.

In 1999 HP announced a strategic realignment and the creation of a separate company, Agilent Technologies Inc., which consisted of HP's test and measurement, semiconductor, chemical analysis, and healthcare businesses. Hewlett-Packard would continue as a computing and imaging company that included all of HP's computing, printing, and imaging businesses. Edward W. (Ned) Barnholt was named Agilent's president and CEO. HP announced the formation of the new company on March 2, 1999, and on July 28 Agilent Technologies was given its name, a combination of 'agile' with the popular 'ent' ending that suggested high technology (compare, for example, Lucent, Scient, and Teligent).
The split went into effect on November 1--the beginning of Agilent's and HP's fiscal year--and Agilent had its initial public offering (IPO) on November 18, 1999. Some 65 million shares were sold at $30 each. The IPO involved 15 percent of Agilent's stock, with HP retaining 85 percent. HP planned to spin off the rest of its Agilent stock to HP shareholders in 2000. Wall Street reacted favorably to the IPO, sending the stock up from its initial offering price of $30 a share to $42.44 on the first day. HP stock also rose from $81 to $94.31.
Agilent began business with about 43,000 employees, approximately one-third of HP's workforce, and revenue of about $8 billion, the equivalent of about 15 percent of HP's revenue. It also took with it about one-third of HP Laboratories, which would be called Agilent Technologies Laboratories. After the split, HP would have about 80,000 employees and $40 billion in annual revenue.
Agilent's four businesses consisted of test and measurement, semiconductor products, healthcare solutions, and chemical analysis. In the area of test and measurement, Agilent provided companies in the communications, electronics, semiconductor, and related industries with standard and customized test and measurement solutions, including instruments and systems, automated test equipment, communications network monitoring and management tools, and software design tools. Customers included communications and network equipment manufacturers, providers of communications services, designers and manufacturers of semiconductor products, and designers and manufacturers of electronic equipment.
In the field of semiconductors, Agilent was a supplier of semiconductor components, modules, and assemblies for high-performance communications infrastructure, computing devices, and mobile information appliances. Products included fiber-optic communication devices, components, and assemblies; integrated circuits for high-speed local area networks (LANs) and storage area networks (SANs); devices and integrated circuits for microwave and radio frequency (RF) mobile wireless devices and infrastructure; infrared components for short-range communications; ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) for workstations, servers, and laser and inkjet printers; LEDs for electronic image and information display; and more. These products were sold to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and contract manufacturers in the communications and computing industries.
Agilent's healthcare solutions were focused on electro-medical clinical measurement and diagnostic solutions. Products and services included patient monitoring systems, imaging systems, external defibrillators, cardiology products, and related services and support. These products enabled medical professionals to gather and analyze information in a variety of settings, from intensive care units to doctors' offices.
In the field of chemical analysis, Agilent provided analytical instrument systems that enabled customers to identify, quantify, analyze, and test the properties of substances and products down to the atomic level. The company's main product lines in this area were chromatography, spectroscopy, bio-instrumentation, and related consumables. These products were used by scientists, engineers, and technicians mainly in the hydrocarbon-processing, environmental, pharmaceutical, and bioscience markets.
Approximately 75 to 80 percent of Agilent's revenue came from its test and measurement business and its semiconductor business, with healthcare solutions and chemical analysis accounting for about 20--25 percent. Realizing that Agilent's future was tied to the growth of the communications industry, and specifically to the Internet, where networks and devices required more and more test equipment, Wall Street sent Agilent's stock to a 52-week high of $79.25 on December 31, 1999.


OVERALL
Beta: 1.45
Market Cap (Mil.): $17,366.55
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 345.12
Annual Dividend: --
Yield (%): --
FINANCIALS
A Industry Sector
P/E (TTM): 22.26 10.76 15.79
EPS (TTM): 3,274.22 -- --
ROI: 13.70 4.73 2.81
ROE: 26.95 5.92 5.15

Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1999
Employees: 46,000
Sales: $10.77 billion (2000)
Stock Exchanges: New York
Ticker Symbol: A
NAIC: 334413 Semiconductor and Related Device Manufacturing; 334290 Other Communications Equipment Manufacturing; 334513 Instruments and Related Products Manufacturing for Measuring, Displaying, and Controlling Industrial Process Variables

Key Dates:

1938: Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett, former Stanford classmates, create their first product, an audio oscillator used to test sound equipment.
1939: Packard and Hewlett form the Hewlett-Packard partnership on January 1.
1942: The first HP-owned building is constructed at 395 Page Mill Road in Palo Alto, California.
1947: Hewlett-Packard Company is incorporated on August 18.
1957: Hewlett-Packard makes its first public stock offering on November 6.
1962: Hewlett-Packard is listed on the Fortune 500 for the first time.
1966: HP Laboratories is established.
1999: Hewlett-Packard announces a strategic realignment and the creation of a separate company, to be named Agilent Technologies Inc., consisting of HP's test and measurement, semiconductor, chemical analysis, and healthcare businesses; Agilent holds its initial public offering (IPO) on November 18.
2000: Hewlett-Packard distributes its shares of Agilent to HP shareholders on June 2, making Agilent a fully independent company; Agilent divests its healthcare products group for $1.7 billion.

Name Age Since Current Position
Cullen, James 68 2005 Independent Non-Executive Chairman of the Board
Sullivan, William 61 2005 President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Hirsch, Didier 59 2010 Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President
Huber, Marie 49 2009 Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary
Halloran, Jean 58 1999 Senior Vice President - Human Resources
McMullen, Michael 49 2009 Senior Vice President and President - Chemical Analysis Group
Nersesian, Ronald 51 2009 Senior Vice President and President - Electronic Measurement Group
Roelofs, Nicolas 52 2009 Senior Vice President and President - Life Sciences Group
Fields, Heidi 56 2000 Director
Herbold, Robert 68 2000 Director
Yamada, Tadataka 65 2011 Director
Lawrence, David 70 1999 Independent Director
Rand, A. Barry 66 2000 Independent Director
Koh, Boon Hwee 60 2003 Independent Director
Clark, Paul 64 2006 Independent Director


Address:
395 Page Mill Road
P.O. Box 10395
Palo Alto, California 94303
U.S.A.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top