Agilent Acquires Firms That Provide Network Test Solutions
Agilent Technologies has inked a deal to acquire Digital Technology and its sister company, Dynamic Digital Technology Private Limited. Digital Technology, based in Bedford, Mass., and Dynamic, based in Calcutta, India, operate as one company (DTI). Together they develop network-protocol test solutions.
The acquisition is intended to extend Agilent's ability to offer test solutions used by network equipment manufacturers and service providers developing and deploying next-generation, IP-based products and services. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
DTI specializes in tools that ensure that networking and internetworking protocol software implementations conform to technical standards and operate correctly. The company is currently focused on development of multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) testing capabilities. MPLS allows service providers to define specific packet delivery paths through the Internet.
"Manufacturers of network equipment, such as terabit routers, and their customers face increasing competitive pressure to bring high-speed IP services to market quickly," says Bill Wood, Vice President and General Manager of Agilent's Advanced Networks Division. "The addition of DTI's resources and expertise will help us extend the capabilities of our QA Robot and RouterTester platformsÖ." Agilent's QA Robot is used in testing routing software, while Agilent's RouterTester is used in testing next-generation terabit routers.
In addition to its MPLS test suites, DTI offers ATM conformance testing tools and is developing test tools for VoIP (voice-over-IP)-related protocols, such as H.323 and the Session Initiation protocol (SIP).