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Agilent Technologies’ SAS Compliance Test Software Provides Automated 6-Gbps and 12-Gbps Measurements for Oscilloscopes

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 24, 2010 — Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today introduced automated compliance test softwarefor Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) physical-layer transmitter compliance testing that includes measurement support for SAS 6-Gbps and 12-Gbps interfaces. Using the Infiniium 90000 Series or 90000 X-Series oscilloscope and the automated N5412B SAS-2 compliance test software, engineers can maximize their design margins and gain greater insights into their system performance.

SAS is a high-speed serial bus used primarily for high-performance server and workstation storage applications. It operates at data rates up to 6 Gbps today and will go up to 12 Gbps in the near future. Storage devices and chipsets operating at 6 Gbps and 12 Gbps present tough measurement challenges that require new tools and procedures for proper validation and margin analysis. Agilent’s SAS compliance test software provides advance access to measurements, letting engineers address potential design issues early in the design cycle and get their products to market faster.

The Agilent N5412B SAS-2 compliance test software for Infiniium oscilloscopes provides design and validation engineers with a fast and easy way to verify physical layer transmitter compliance for SAS 1.5-Gbps, 3-Gbps and 6-Gbps silicon, expanders, port multipliers and high-density and solid-state disk drives. The test methods are based on University of New Hampshire InterOperability Labs (UNH-IOL) Consortium’s SAS-2 physical-layer test suite.

The N5412B software performs a wide range of tests for spread-spectrum clocking (SSC) specifications, transmitted signal requirements and out-of-band (OOB) specifications. The software also provides automated compliance test support for intra-enclosure (IT) and internal-enclosure (CT) interface points, displays the results in a flexible report format, and provides a margin analysis that shows how closely a device passes or fails each test.

The Agilent SAS12G user-defined application (UDA) software for Infiniium 90000 X-Series scopes provides early 12-Gbps physical layer transmitter measurements for engineers designing to the requirements of the upcoming SAS-3 specification. The UDA test methodologies are leveraged from the N5412B software. The SAS12G UDA software will provide early 12-Gbps adopters and implementers the ability to characterize and validate their designs. The software determines if designs meet the specification and predicts system interoperability.

Agilent’s Infiniium 90000 X-Series oscilloscope, the winner of the prestigious Electron d’Or (gold electron) award in the “Instrumentation” category, offers the industry’s highest analog bandwidth (32-GHz), lowest noise floor, deepest memory and flattest response. The Agilent N5421A SAS kit that includes the TX and RX transient circuit test loads also provides accessibility to the SAS connectors.

Engineers designing and developing SAS interfaces also can use the Agilent J-BERT N4903B high-performance serial BERT for physical-layer receiver compliance testing and characterization and the Agilent DCA-J 86100C TDR system for characterization of the transmit and receive termination impedances and return loss, per the requirements of the SAS-2 specification.

“With our involvement in plugfests, we are in the unique position to develop solutions that evolve with the standards, giving engineers the ability to design their products with the highest confidence,” said Jay Alexander, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s oscilloscopes business.

Additional information about Agilent’s N5412B SAS-2 test software and SAS12 UDA software is available at www.agilent.com/find/N5412B and www.agilent.com/find/sas12gProduct images are available at www.agilent.com/find/N5412B_images.

More information on Agilent’s SAS complete test solutions is available at www.agilent.com/find/sas. Agilent’s complete portfolio of oscilloscopes is available in a variety of form factors, from 20 MHz to 90 GHz. They offer industry-leading specifications and powerful applications.

U.S. Pricing and Availability

The Agilent N5412B SAS-2 compliance test software is available now starting at a price of $7,000. An upgrade is also available for existing N5412A SAS compliance software.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in chemical analysis, life sciences, electronics and communications. The company’s 18,500 employees serve customers in more than 100 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $4.5 billion in fiscal 2009. Information about Agilent is available on the Web atwww.agilent.com.

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Eurotech Receives 1.8M USD Order to Supply Embedded Computers for Uninterruptible Power Supply Units

COLUMBIA, Md., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ — Eurotech, a leading supplier of embedded technologies, products, and systems, today announces a 1.8M USD order to supply embedded computers to a leading provider of critical power and cooling services for four years.  A single board computer (SBC) from Eurotech, which is based on the Marvell PXA processor, powers the product line of Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) units.  

The PXA-based SBC from Eurotech used in the UPS units is designed for power efficiency with typical consumption specs under 3W and low power sleep modes. The board offers a broad range of I/O features which include CAN, USB, Serial Ports, Ethernet, as well as multimedia support for audio, touchscreen, LCD, and VGA interfaces, all in a small 4 x 6 inch form factor.

The UPS units provide integrated network manageability with real time status updates of UPS health and environmental conditions. Hot-swappable, user replaceable power, battery, and intelligence modules enable low time to recovery after a failure and ease of service. The UPS product’s modular design provides redundant power in a single chassis for business-critical applications in server rooms and network closets.

“Eurotech has met the manufacturer’s embedded computing needs for these UPS units for many years now,” said Greg Nicoloso, CEO of Eurotech, Inc.  “Technology migration through close relationships at all levels of the organizations is much smoother and efficient in the long run, extending the customer’s product lifecycle.”

ABOUT EUROTECH

Eurotech is a listed global company (ETH.MI) that integrates hardware, software, services, and expertise to deliver embedded computing platforms and sub-systems to leading OEMs, system integrators and enterprise customers for successful and efficient deployment of their products and services. Drawing on concepts of minimalist computing, Eurotech lowers power draw, minimizes physical size and reduces coding complexity to bring sensors, embedded platforms, sub-systems, ready-to-use devices and high performance computers to market, specializing in healthcare, security, defense, transportation, industrial and energy segments. By combining domain expertise in wireless connectivity as well as communications protocols, Eurotech architects integrated solutions that simplify data capture, processing and transfer over unified communications networks. Our customers rely on us to simplify their access to state-of-art embedded technologies so they can focus on their core competencies. Learn more about Eurotech at www.eurotech.com.

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