Keysight Technologies History

Believe You Can Change the World

From the very beginning as human beings, we’ve believed in firsts. It’s the same belief that created light in the dead of night, and that proved man could indeed soar. It’s the driving force behind groundbreaking industry firsts, from 1939 when Hewlett-Packard was founded, to present day Keysight Technologies.

Fast Friends: Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard

Following graduation from Stanford University in 1934, electrical engineers Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett went on a two-week camping and fishing trip in the Colorado mountains. On this trip, they discovered a shared passion for innovation, and soon became close friends. Bill went on to pursue graduate studies at Stanford University and MIT, while Dave took a job with General Electric in New York State. Within a few years, and with the encouragement of Stanford professor and mentor, Fred Terman, they both found themselves back in California’s Santa Clara Valley. Bill and Dave decided to start a business and "make a run for it," working out of a garage.

The One-Car Garage and "Birthplace of Silicon Valley"

The one-car garage behind 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, California, doubled as a workshop for co-founders Bill and Dave. It is in this iconic garage where Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard innovated and manufactured what would become the company's first product, the 200A Audio Oscillator. The garage holds such historic value that the location is recognized as the “Birthplace of Silicon Valley."

Birthplace of Silicon Valley

1937

• Bill Hewlett, Dave Packard, and Noel "Ed" Porter begin developing their plans for an electronic measurement company that would later become Hewlett-Packard (HP), and that is today called Keysight Technologies

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard develop the company's corporate objectives, the basis of its management philosophy dubbed “The HP Way." The company also embarks upon a path toward globalization by establishing a facility in Böblingen, Germany.

Böblingen Facility

1950

• Major advances in microwave instrumentation lead to more comprehensive test results and greater accuracy

The company continues its tradition of innovation, with many more industry firsts, including the laser interferometer. As this decade – marked by significant growth in earnings and employment – draws to a close, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard delegate day-to-day operating management of the company to John Young.

Laser Interferometer

1970

• HP introduces the automatic microwave network analyzer, which becomes an indispensable tool for the design and manufacture of microwave systems

1971

• HP produces a laser interferometer capable of measuring to millionths of an inch. The laser interferometer remains the standard for precision measurement of the most challenging applications in semiconductor lithography, aerospace/defense, metrology, and manufacturing.
• HP enters into a purchase agreement to acquire 200 acres in Santa Rosa; the site in Northern California later becomes the headquarters of Keysight Technologies

1972

• HP establishes operations in Penang, Malaysia, with 60 employees producing core memory stacks in a rented bungalow on Macalister Road. Operations later move to the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone, in a facility that sits on 36 acres.

1973

• Logic analyzers become the tool of choice for engineers in the fast-growing field of digital electronics

1975

• The electronics industry adopts the HP-IB (Interface Bus) as an international standard. The standard allows up to 14 instruments per bus to connect easily to a computer. HP-IB is later known as GP-IB.

1977

• John Young is named president and later appointed CEO in 1978
• HP introduces the 8566/68A, the company’s first 1-Hz resolution spectrum analyzer

1979

• The company’s first integrated microprocessor development system combines all the tools needed by hardware and software engineers
• HP introduces the 8566A microwave spectrum analyzer, which can identify low-level signals outside the range of earlier spectrum analyzers
• The HP Foundation launches with a focus on philanthropic contributions. Years later, the Agilent Foundation and Keysight Foundation debut. The company’s giving becomes an integral component of its corporate social responsibility.

The pace of change accelerates with web-based information and applications becoming pervasive, competition intensifying, and time-to-market cycles greatly reduced. In 1999, Agilent Technologies is formed as the result of a spin-off of HP’s "Medical Products and Instrument Group."

1990

• HP creates new test and measurement organization, and appoints Edward W. (Ned) Barnholt to lead it
• Working with industry leaders, the company adapts an internal solution called TML, and initiates a public release of an IEEE-approved standard for Standard Control of Programmable Instruments (SCPI) that nearly all manufacturers of computer-controlled test equipment adopt

1991

• Acquisition of Avantek broadens components offering for the global communications market
• HP introduces the 54600/54601, which offers analog oscilloscope features combined with the accuracy and power of digital architecture
• The second HP women’s technical conference gathers women from across the company to highlight their achievements and technical contributions, as well as to promote professional development

1992

• New atomic clock debuts and becomes the world's most precise commercially available timekeeping device
• Test set generates and detects data streams of up to 2.5 billion data bits per second, allowing telecommunications manufacturers to verify the performance of transmission equipment
• Optical spectrum analyzer contributes to the fast-growing optical communications field
• New modular oscilloscope debuts; used in the design of high-speed digital electronics products
• Lewis E. Platt is named president and CEO

1993

• AcceSS7 network monitoring system enables telecommunications customers to monitor all the elements on SS7 networks from a central location, increasing the efficiency of communications networks
• HP lands another spot on “The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America”

1994

• HP establishes joint venture in China with Shanghai Analytical Instrument Factory
• HP’s Broadband Series Test System emerges as an industry standard, the first to test ATM and broadband ISDN networks, and the first to integrate testing of all layers. The system helps the industry prove that these new technologies can form the basis of an information highway for transporting voice, data, image and video over the same network.

1995

• Decades of experience in quartz technology and cesium time standards result in new network timing synchronization products. Networks function with greater accuracy and reliability, delivering new digital services for voice, data, and video communication.
  
• HP introduces the industry's first low-cost, high-speed small infrared transceiver, which allows wireless "point and shoot" data exchange in a wide range of portable computing applications such as phones, computers, printers, cash registers, ATMs, digital cameras and more
• HP introduces the broadband service analyzer, a new portable tool for installing broadband networks. It sets up complex tests to measure network quality with the touch of a button, and makes Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology more accessible.
  
• HP introduces the first mixed signal oscilloscope (MSO)

1996

• Co-founder David Packard dies on March 26
• HP creates a network-timing synchronization for wired and wireless high-speed digital networks, eliminating many challenges in transmitting data or images over telephone lines

1997

• HP introduces the first Infiniium oscilloscope

1998

• The innovative 3070 Series 3 board test system allows manufacturers to test printed circuit boards faster and more effectively than ever before
• The 95000 HSM high-speed memory test system can be used for high-volume production testing of RDRAM chips. These chips operate at 800 MHz and offer memory-chip manufacturers the smallest footprint, lowest cost of test, and lowest-risk solution available.
• HP introduces the E6432A VXI microwave synthesizer which is ideal for automated test applications, including field tests, avionics, and communications systems
• The TestBook Wireless integrated diagnostic solution provides technicians centralized access to diagnostic and customer-service information in the service bay or field, thereby increasing productivity and decreasing repair costs

1999

• HP announces strategic realignment to create an independent measurement company composed of test and measurement components, chemical analysis and medical businesses, and a separate computing and imaging company that includes all of HP's computing, printing, and imaging businesses
• Agilent Technologies, the name of the new measurement company, is announced at a historic brand-identity launch event in San Jose, California, by Agilent President and Chief Executive Officer, Edward W. (Ned) Barnholt
• Initial public stock offering on November 18, 1999, raises $2.1 billion and breaks records as the largest IPO in Silicon Valley history

In 2013, Agilent Technologies announces it will split into two separate pure-play measurement companies. The new electronic measurement company is named Keysight Technologies. Keysight becomes a fully separate electronic measurement company on November 1, 2014. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange on November 3, 2014, with ticker symbol KEYS.

Welcome Lobby at Keysight Technologies Headquarters in Santa Rosa, California

2010

• Agilent Technologies releases key enhancements to the 89600 vector signal analysis (VSA) software, a critical tool for R&D engineers, with support for the most demanding PHY layer analysis needs of the wireless communications industry. LTE, HSPA+ and GSM EDGE-Evo analysis tools allow engineers to dig deeper into signals to find and fix the causes of physical layer problems.

2011

• Agilent Technologies introduces the first premium service-in-a-box with premium warranty for the electronic test and measurement industry
• Agilent Technologies advances X-parameters innovations and invests heavily to advance nonlinear measurements and characterization

2012

• Acquisition of AT4 broadens the company’s leadership in wireless test solutions
• The company holds a 'Test of Time’ power supply contest, celebrating the longstanding use of its power supplies and more than 50 years of power supply expertise

2013

• Agilent Technologies makes a $90 million gift of software to Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), the largest single academic donation given by the company
• The award-winning Infiniium 90000 X-Series oscilloscope family expands with new mixed signal oscilloscope (MSO) models that enable engineers to accurately debug and validate emerging technologies
• Agilent Technologies announces that it will split into two separate measurement companies. The new electronic measurement company is called Keysight Technologies with headquarters in Santa Rosa. Ron Nersesian is president and CEO.

2014