Agilent, BU to Develop Photonics Lab

PALO ALTO, Calif. and BOSTON, Nov. 18 -- Agilent Technologies Inc. and the Photonics Center at Boston University (BU) have announced they will collaborate to develop BU's new Photonics Center laboratory. The laboratory, expected to open in February of 2003, will enable early-stage optics companies to research and create new technologies.

The interaction between Agilent and Boston University began five years ago with the opening of the Photonics Center. Since the opening in 1997, the Photonics Center has created and launched nine new photonics companies, which collectively have raised over $92 million from venture capital sources.

The Photonics Center made a major investment in Agilent test equipment for its new optical test laboratory, including the latest suite of Agilent's 10 GHz optical test solutions. The Agilent solutions will be accessible to both researchers and optical "incubator" companies, which are a critical part of the Center's commercialization program.

Agilent will supply the Photonics Center with the following: a lightwave measurement system; an all-band high-performance tunable laser and related plug-ins; a 12.5 GB-bit error rate analyzer; an oscilloscope, complete with 30GHz optical/40 GhZ electrical plug-ins; a high-performance optical spectrum analyzer; and a precision reflectometer.

The two organizations said they plan to conduct joint marketing and training at the Boston site. Agilent will cosponsor symposiums on technology and test techniques and will work closely with the BU incubator companies.

For more information, visit: www.agilent.com