Agilent Technologies announces new entry into the low-cost automated test equipment market

Agilent 93000 Compact Test Head meets needs of high-volume, low-cost consumer electronics manufacturers

SHANGHAI, SEMICON, China, March 21, 2006, Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced a new entry into the low-end automated test equipment (ATE) market with the introduction of the 93000 Compact Test Head (CTH) targeted at digital and mixed-signal consumer device test. Agilent designed this latest addition to its 93000 scalable platform to meet manufacturers’ growing need for low-cost solutions for testing complex, high-performance systems-on-chips (SOCs) now used in high-volume, low-cost consumer electronics.

The 93000 CTH further protects manufacturers’ ATE investment by its flexibility: Its compact size allows it to be used efficiently across the supply chain and in a host of environments, including engineering, wafer sort and final test. It meets the test needs of a range of SOC applications such as embedded memory, high-speed communication interfaces, and high-quality audio/video found in LCDTV controllers, DVDs, optical disk drives and portable media players.

“Cost, performance and product lifetime are the most important factors consumer electronics device manufacturers face when purchasing ATE,” said Pascal Ronde, vice president of Agilent’s Semiconductor Test business. “The 93000 CTH is unlike other low-end testers that are limited in scalability and compatibility within their product lines, and that do not have a clear strategy to address their inefficiencies across the supply chain. Leveraging the 93000 platform architecture, the 93000 CTH is a low-cost, high-performing, scalable solution compatible with the full spectrum of 93000 solutions.”

The 93000 CTH delivers the 93000 platform’s high test quality and incorporates the same features found in the well-established 93000 platform, such as its scalable architecture, Pin Scale digital, advanced analog and RF modules, SmarTest software, device under test (DUT) boards and docking. The “zero footprint” 93000 CTH takes up little floor space because of its advanced levels of integration, and up to four compact test heads can share a single cooling unit. Features of the 93000 CTH include: 18 flexible hardware slots, 16 of which can be assigned for use with digital, analog or RF cards; a new PCI Express-based transfer link, providing fast upload and download of tester data; and enhanced DC test capabilities, giving the CTH even higher throughput performance.

Additional information about the Agilent 93000 CTH is available at www.agilent.com/see/cth.

U.S. Pricing and Availability

The Agilent 93000 CTH is available now with pricing starting at less than $300,000.

About the Agilent 93000

The Agilent 93000 provides a scalable platform architecture for testing systems-on-chips (SOCs) and systems-in-packages (SIPs) and high-speed memory devices. With more than 1,200 systems sold worldwide, the Agilent 93000 is the system of choice for subcontract manufacturers, integrated device manufacturers and fabless companies. The Agilent 93000 meets the industry’s demanding performance and cost challenges, whether for at-speed engineering characterization or high-volume production. The test system provides massive multi-site capabilities, enables data rates up to 10 Gbps and supports a full range of digital, mixed-signal and RF applications. The flexibility and performance of the Agilent 93000 provide faster time-to-market, better yields and lower overall cost-of-test.

More information on the Agilent 93000 is available at www.agilent.com/see/soctest.
About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company’s 20,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenue of $5.1 billion in fiscal 2005. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.

Contact Information

Jana Knezovich

Agilent Technologies Inc.

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