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Agilent Technologies Introduces First Oscilloscope-Based Application for Ethernet 64b/66b Protocol Decoding and Triggering

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct . 25, 2011 – Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today expanded its Infiniium oscilloscope application portfolio with Ethernet 64b/66b protocol decoding and triggering software. Agilent’s Infiniium Series is the first and only oscilloscope family to support 64b/66b triggering and protocol decoding.

Until now, the only available scope-based protocol solutions were for buses such as I2C, SPI, CAN or 8b/10b-based decoding schemes, leaving 64b/66b developers manually decoding difficult designs. The Agilent N8815A Ethernet 10Gbase-KR decode application decodes in real time, enabling teams to develop higher-quality products more quickly.

Ethernet 64b/66b is used primarily in today’s data networking and transmissions technologies. FibreChannel, Ethernet, and Infiniband are just a few of the technologies that benefit from 64b/66b’s lower overhead. Agilent’s N8815A software is designed to benefit designers of the 10Gbase-KR and 40Gbase-KR technology defined as IEEE 802.3, which operates over backplane lanes. The new application takes advantage of Infiniium’s recently released multiple serial decoding and searching, allowing designers to look at four lanes at once.

Design and test teams in almost all electronics industries, including the computer, communications, semiconductor, aerospace/defense, automotive and wireless industries, continue to produce increasingly sophisticated hardware designs. Oscilloscopes are the primary tool engineers use to test and debug their designs, and they need increasingly broad measurement capabilities to deliver robust products on time.

In addition to decoding 64b/66b signals, N8815A software also properly identifies PRBS signals and their lengths. When designers want to ensure they are truly passing a PRBS pattern of a certain length to their signal, N8815A will allow them to ascertain the exact pattern length and pattern they are running. The application also allows for forward error correction.

The N8815A Ethernet 10Gbase-KR decode application is supported on Agilent’s Infiniium 90000 and 90000 X-Series oscilloscopes. The Infiniium 90000 X-Series oscilloscope family includes the fastest real-time oscilloscopes with industry-leading, real-time bandwidth of 33 GHz. These new scopes deliver the lowest noise and have the lowest jitter measurement floor in the industry, ensuring superior measurement accuracy.

Additional Information

Additional information about the N8815A Ethernet 10Gbase-KR decode application is available at www.agilent.com/find/10Gbase-KR. Product images can be found at www.agilent.com/find/10Gbase-KR_images.

Additional information on Agilent’s new Infiniium Series oscilloscopes, ranging from 600 MHz to 32 GHz bandwidths, and the company’s complete line of oscilloscope applications is available at www.agilent.com/find/scopes.

U.S. Pricing and Availability

The N8815A 10Gbase-KR triggering and decoding application is available now for $3,500.

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 $5.4 billion in fiscal 2010. Information about Agilent is available at www.agilent.com

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