SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 2, 2010 — Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) today introduced its second-generation FlexRay measurement option (Option FLX) on its popular InfiniiVision 5000, 6000 and 7000 Series oscilloscopes. In response to customer feedback on its first-generation.

FlexRay oscilloscope option, Agilent enhanced the measurement capabilities for testing the physical-layer robustness of FlexRay networks in Option FLX and significantly lowered the price for an entry-level FlexRay physical-layer test solution. 

FlexRay in-vehicle networking is the automotive standard for deterministic, fault-tolerant, high-speed data communication. FlexRay technology delivers the networking performance required for newer automotive applications such as brake-by-wire and steer-by-wire. FlexRay networks have much higher bandwidth than existing controller-area networks (CAN), and are expected to be the communication backbone for emerging drive-by-wire applications. The advantage of CAN is reduced car weight and energy consumption and increased safety and reliability.

In addition to its existing frame triggering and hardware-based decoding capabilities, Agilent’s new FlexRay option now offers eye-diagram mask testing and a comprehensive FlexRay physical-layer conformance test software package.

Eye-diagram mask testing is one of the most important physical-layer measurements that designers can use to test the overall signal quality of their FlexRay networks. Engineers can download seven different FlexRay eye-diagram mask test files from Agilent’s Web site at no charge. For TP4 testing at a receiver’s input, Agilent’s eye-diagram mask test algorithm uses a unique hardware-based clock recovery technique that closely emulates FlexRay receiver clock re-synchronization and provides the fastest throughput in the oscilloscope industry.

Engineers also can download the FlexRay physical layer conformance test software from Agilent’s Web site at no additional charge. This PC software is based on Agilent’s award-winning compliance test framework used in Infiniium oscilloscopes. FlexRay designers can now perform automated tests at receiver input or transmitter output test points. Up to 33 different physical-layer parameters can be tested, including the “signal integrity voting test” on isolated ones and zeros. The test report includes comprehensive pass/fail results and margin analysis based on published specifications.

In addition to offering enhanced measurement capabilities, Agilent’s second-generation FlexRay option is much easier to use and configure. The option also has a significantly lower net price, as the VPT1000 vehicle protocol test module is no longer required. Option FLX is now available on Agilent’s entry-level InfiniiVision 5000 Series DSO oscilloscopes, which makes it the lowest-priced FlexRay physical-layer test solution in the industry.

Information about the FlexRay standard and the FlexRay Consortium can be
found at www.flexray.com.

U.S. Pricing and Availability

The Agilent FlexRay triggering and real-time decode option (Option FLX or N5432C for after-purchase upgrades) for the InfiniiVision 5000, 6000, and 7000 Series oscilloscopes is priced at $4,500 and is available now. Additional information about Option FLX is available at
www.agilent.com/find/flexray.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company’s 16,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenue of $4.5 billion in fiscal 2009. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com. 

Wirral, UK – LDRA, the leading provider of automated software verification tools, and Visure Solutions, market leader in Requirements Definition and Management, announced the release of Embed-X, the first end-to-end application lifecycle management (ALM) system for the embedded space. Embed-X, like other ALM solutions, merges product requirements, business objectives and metrics in a uniform actionable perspective. However, Embed-X also delivers these ALM objectives with full certification support for critical development standards in the avionics, defense, automotive and medical markets while executing on an unrivalled track record of embedded expertise extending 35 years.

Accelerating software complexity has created a multi-headed challenge for software developers. The criticality, complexity and volume of software have ballooned, creating an exponential increase in software risk. Company profits in automotive and medical are crippled by software-defect product recalls while, according to Forrester, avionics and defense projects commonly experience schedule and budget overruns by a factor of two and deliver only 60% of the expected functionality. Up to 85% of these errors stem from a failure to properly manage requirements. Boeing and Airbus maintain that the expense of identifying an error during first flight increases costs up to 900 times than if the error had been identified early in the development process.

To enable companies to cope with the exorbitant costs systemic in current development processes, LDRA and Visure have designed Embed-X to streamline software development to deliver 50% cost savings. This industry-first embedded application lifecycle management for critical systems coordinates software engineering by integrating project management, requirements management, architecture, coding, software configuration management and testing. ALM solutions automate and enforce processes between the stages of development, manage relationships between assets used or produced by the software, and offer transparency and metrics through reports on development as it progresses.

“For the first time, software developers will be able to manage the micro-detail fundamental to embedded applications,” noted Baldo Rincón, Managing Director of Visure Solutions. “Embed-X shares requirements and system components and creates an open forum between software developers and engineers taking care of mechanical and electrical details. Because of bidirectional Lifecycle Traceability, requirements are no longer isolated in repositories, but dynamically updated throughout the system.”

Building on LDRA’s strengths in the critical software marketplace and Visure’s experience delivering requirements solutions, Embed-X is geared to meet the demands of safety-critical development standards. Incorporating LDRA’s patent-pending verification management technology, Embed-X will help system engineering, development and production organizations by coherently tracing requirements through static and dynamic analysis to unit testing and system verification to achieve a fully certified application. Embed-X offers compliance with DO-178B, MISRA, and security standards, such as CERT C and the Homeland Security Agency’s Common Weakness Enumerations (CWE).

“Developers in the safety- and mission-critical space face some of the most stringent certification requirements,” noted Ian Hennell, LDRA Operations Director. “Many companies still attempt to track many of the processes needed for certification manually-a feat often met with disaster. Embed-X automates those processes, removes redundancies between development teams and provides transparency and metrics into the processes to project managers and developers alike.”

Knowing the cost-sensitivity of the embedded market, LDRA and Visure has eased adoption by providing a target license package that incorporates customization and training. Common interfaces seamlessly link the various stages of Embed-X to provide a uniform product GUI. Now, instead of dealing with individual tools for project planning, requirements engineering, change management, product and certification documentation and verification, these activities are synchronized by Embed-X across a network of collaborative users.

“Embed-X represents a breakthrough for the embedded world,” stated Hennell. “Embed-X makes the entire development process visible and its assets tangible. Embed-X will not only slash development and certification costs, it will also greatly enhance management processes.”