Keysight Technologies, Inc. is an American company that manufactures electronics test and measurement equipment and software. The name is a blend of ''key'' and ''insight''. The company was formed as a spin-off of

Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies, Inc. is an American global company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, that provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for laboratories. Agilent was established in 1999 as a spin-off from Hewlett-Packar ...

, which inherited and rebranded the test and measurement product lines developed and produced from the late 1960s to the turn of the millennium by

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

's Test & Measurement division.

Products

Keysight's products include hardware and software for benchtop, modular, and field instruments. Instruments include

oscilloscope An oscilloscope (formerly known as an oscillograph, informally scope or O-scope) is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying voltages of one or more signals as a function of time. Their main purpose is capturing i ...

multimeter A multimeter (also known as a multi-tester, volt-ohm-milliammeter, volt-ohmmeter or VOM, avometer or ampere-volt-ohmmeter) is a measuring instrument that can measure multiple electrical properties. A typical multimeter can measure voltage, elec ...

s, logic analyzers,

signal generator A signal generator is one of a class of Electronics, electronic devices that generates electrical signals with set properties of amplitude, frequency, and wave shape. These generated signals are used as a stimulus for electronic measurements, typ ...

s, spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, atomic force microscopes (AFM),

automated optical inspection Automated optical inspection (AOI) is an automated visual inspection of printed circuit board (PCB) (or LCD, transistor) manufacture where a camera machine vision, autonomously scans the device under test for both catastrophic failure (e.g. missin ...

automated X-ray inspection Automated inspection (AXI) is a technology based on the same principles as automated optical inspection (AOI). It uses as its source, instead of visible light, to automatically inspect features, which are typically hidden from view. Automated ...

( 5DX), in-circuit testers,

power supplies A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, current, and frequency to power the load. As a r ...

tunable laser A tunable laser is a laser whose wavelength of operation can be altered in a controlled manner. While all active laser medium, laser gain media allow small shifts in output wavelength, only a few types of lasers allow continuous tuning over a sign ...

s, optical power meters, wavelength-meters, electro-optic converters, optical modulation analyzers and handheld tools. In addition, it produces

electronic design automation Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing Electronics, electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools wo ...

(EDA) software ( PathWave Design division). It mainly serves the telecommunications, aerospace/defense, industrial, computer, and semiconductor industries.

History

Acquisitions

Keysight acquired British electronic measurement instrument maker Anite in 2015 for £388 million ($607 million). In 2017, Keysight acquired data technology company

Ixia ''Ixia'' is a genus of cormous plants native to South Africa from the family Iridaceae. Some of them are known as the corn lily. Some distinctive traits include sword-like leaves and long wiry stems with star-shaped flowers. It usually prefers w ...

for about $1.6 billion in cash. The company acquired British software testing company Eggplant Software from

The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...

for $330 million in 2020. From 2019 to 2021, the company focused on 5G, introducing advanced products such as the Infiniium UXR-Series oscilloscopes. In 2023, the company acquired France-based ESI Group for approximately $1 billion. In 2024, Keysight outbid Viavi Solutions to acquire British telecommunications testing company Spirent for $1.5 billion.

Controversies

On August 3, 2021, Keysight entered into a Consent Agreement with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs,

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

("DTCC") to resolve alleged violations of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations ("ITAR"). Pursuant to the Consent Agreement, Keysight was assessed a penalty of $6.6 million to be paid over three years, $2.5 million of which was suspended and designated for remediation activities over three years, including employment of a special compliance officer. The suspended portion of the penalty was satisfied by amounts spent on qualifying compliance activities. On April 23, 2024, Keysight made the final payment on the penalty, bringing the total amount paid to $4.1 million. On May 3, 2024, Keysight submitted a certification letter to the DTCC certifying that it had implemented all aspects of the Consent Agreement and that the company’s compliance program is adequate to identify, prevent, detect, correct, and report violations of the ITAR.

Research and development

From its launch in 2014 until 2020, Keysight increased its investment in R&D from approximately 12% to 16%, a percentage increase that represented almost a doubling of the investment in absolute dollars.

Awards

Keysight won the 2014 Global Frost & Sullivan award for market leadership with $300 million in instrumentation software revenue. The citation states R&D investment of 12% of revenue ($365 million in 2013) as an important factor. In recent years, Keysight received a ranking of #46 on Forbes list of “American’s Best Midsize Companies.” Keysight was recently ranked #46 on Fortune's 2022 100 Best Companies to Work for.

References

External links

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Top 12 public test and measurement companies by revenue

New Keysight CEO kicks electronic measurement company into overdrive
{{Authority control Electronics companies established in 2014 American companies established in 2014 Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Electronic test equipment manufacturers Electronics companies of the United States Hewlett-Packard Instrument-making corporations Corporate spin-offs Power supply manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Companies based in Santa Rosa, California