Agilent Technologies' N2X multiservices test solution first to offer MEF9 conformance suite

N2X enables comprehensive testing to new MEF9 UNI specification

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 13, 2005

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced the industry's first conformance test suite for MEF9, a new Metro Ethernet Forum test specification and the first to be officially ratified. MEF9 allows subscribers of Ethernet services to verify that a metro Ethernet network will support new types of Ethernet-based services.

The N2X MEF9 conformance test suite (CTS) incorporates hundreds of test cases for Ethernet private line (E-line) and Ethernet LAN (E-LAN) services, saving test engineers hours of programming needed to verify that these services can be reliably delivered in a multivendor, multiservice environment. Network equipment manufacturers and service providers that already use N2X to verify the performance of their multiservice network equipment can now quickly check conformance to MEF9, thereby accelerating the deployment of new revenue-generating Ethernet services.

"MEF9 is a key industry specification for verifying service compliance at the User Network Interface [UNI]," said Bob Mandeville, president of Iometrix, the MEF endorsed certification lab. "The news that test tools designed specifically for MEF9 compliance testing are coming to market will be welcomed by the testing, equipment vendor, service provider and user communities alike."

The Agilent N2X N5590A MEF9 Conformance Test Suite provides more than 300 test cases for E-Line and E-LAN, verifying the conditions that need to be met in order for a device to comply with the cornerstone MEF1 specification. The N5590A CTS enhances user productivity by:

• Saving test engineers many months of engineering effort required to develop and maintain their own test applications.
• Providing a high-quality, independent validation tool. Test engineers can focus on resolving implementation problems in the network equipment instead of debugging the test setup.
• Enabling rapid completion of complex test plans for faster problem resolution and further regression testing as users' products evolve.

The N2X solution is implemented in an easily extensible framework, which enables additional conformance tests to be added in the future.

"Carrier-grade Ethernet services are a natural extension of LANs into the carrier network, but they must also provide the service reliability and scalability of legacy ATM/FR services," said Dave Bass, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Data Networking Division. "The N2X MEF9 conformance test suite significantly reduces the cost and time needed to verify new service capabilities in a very complex multivendor environment."

The Agilent N5590A MEF9 Conformance Test Suite will be demonstrated at Supercomm 2005 in Chicago in June. More information is available at www.agilent.com/comms/N2X.

Product photos are available at www.agilent.com/find/n2x_image.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is a global technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company's 28,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenue of $7.2 billion in fiscal year 2004. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.

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Contact:

Janet Smith, Agilent
+1 970 679 5397
janet_smith@agilent.com

Johanna Vallecillo
Weber Shandwick, for Agilent
+1 408 530 8400, Ext. 2232
jvallecillo@webershandwick.com