View text source at Wikipedia

Keysight

Keysight Technologies, Inc.
Company typePublic
Industry
  • Electronics
PredecessorsElectronic test and measurement division of HP and later Agilent Technologies
Founded2014; 10 years ago (2014)
HeadquartersSanta Rosa, California, U.S.[1]
Key people
Ron Nersesian (chairman)
Satish Dhanasekaran (CEO & president)[2]
Products
  • Electronic measurement equipment
RevenueIncrease US$5.46 billion (2023)
Increase US$1.36 billion (2023)
Decrease US$1.06 billion (2023)
Total assetsIncrease US$8.68 billion (2023)
Total equityIncrease US$4.65 billion (2023)
Number of employees
c. 14,900 (2023)
Divisions
  • PathWave Design
  • PathWave Test
  • oscilloscopes
  • vector network analyzers
  • modular instruments
  • field instruments
  • bench instruments
Websitekeysight.com
Footnotes / references
Financials as of October 31, 2023.[3]

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.[2][4] The company was formed as a spin-off of Agilent Technologies, 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's Test & Measurement division.

Products

[edit]

Keysight's products include hardware and software for benchtop, modular, and field instruments.[5] Instruments include oscilloscopes, multimeters, logic analyzers, signal generators, spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, atomic force microscopes (AFM), automated optical inspection, automated X-ray inspection (5DX), in-circuit testers, power supplies, tunable lasers, optical power meters, wavelength-meters, electro-optic converters, optical modulation analyzers and handheld tools.[6] In addition, it produces electronic design automation (EDA) software (EEsof division).[7] It mainly serves the telecommunications, aerospace/defense, industrial, computer, and semiconductor industries.[8]

History

[edit]

Acquisitions

[edit]

Keysight acquired British electronic measurement instrument maker Anite in 2015 for £388 million ($607 million).[9] In 2017, Keysight acquired data technology company Ixia for about $1.6 billion in cash.[10][11] The company acquired British software testing company Eggplant Software from Carlyle Group for $330 million in 2020.[12] In 2023, the company acquired France-based ESI Group for approximately $1 billion.[13] In 2024, Keysight outbid Viavi Solutions to acquire British telecommunications testing company Spirent for $1.5 billion.[14]

Controversies

[edit]

The 2017 Tubbs wildfire incinerated two buildings on the headquarters campus of Keysight in the Fountain Grove neighborhood of Santa Rosa, causing the complete loss of historical archives of Hewlett-Packard (consisting of over 100 boxes of documents from William Hewlett and David Packard, who had founded the company in Silicon Valley in 1938).[15] A former HP employee who had previously been in charge of the archives commented that "a huge piece of American business history is gone", and Keysight disputed criticism that the archives (which it had acquired at the time of its founding in 2014) had been inadequately protected.[15]

In 2021, the United States Department of State fined Keysight $6.6 million for unauthorized sales of defense-related software to China, Russia, and 15 other countries from 2015 to 2018, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.[16] According to the State Department, some of the sales posed a risk to national security, and the company had been notified of potential unauthorized data transactions in 2017. Keysight agreed to pay the fine and to hire a compliance officer to conduct future audits.[17]

Research and development

[edit]

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.[18]

Awards

[edit]

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.[19][non-primary source needed]

In recent years, Keysight received a ranking of #46 on Forbes list of “American’s Best Midsize Companies.[6]”

Keysight was recently ranked #46 on Fortune's 2022 100 Best Companies to Work for.[20]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Form 10-12B, Registration of securities, for SEC Accession No. 0001047469-14-001833". US Securities and Exchange Commission. 2014-03-05. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Keysight Technologies Fact Sheet" (PDF). Keysight. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Keysight Technologies, Inc. 2023 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 15 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Agilent Technologies Reveals Name of Electronic Measurement Spin-Off Company". Agilent. 7 January 2014. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  5. ^ Kelly Hill (December 9, 2014). "After spin-off, Keysight strikes out on its own". RCR Wireless News. Retrieved 2015-01-03. ...high-performance instrumentation approach for benchtop equipment ... also has been adding to its modular portfolio ... as well as portable testing products...
  6. ^ a b "Keysight News Archive | Agilent Technologies Reveals Name of Electronic Measurement Spin-Off Company | Keysight Press Release". about.keysight.com. 2014-01-07. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  7. ^ Keysight. "Circuit Design Software". Keysight.
  8. ^ Hindle, Patrick; Lerude, Gary (January 14, 2015). "Keysight Technologies: Reborn". Microwave Journal. Retrieved 2015-01-15.
  9. ^ "Keysight Technologies to buy UK's Anite in $607 million deal". Reuters. June 17, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  10. ^ "Keysight Technologies to buy Ixia for $1.6 billion". Reuters. January 30, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
  11. ^ "Keysight Technologies Announces Closing of Acquisition of Ixia" (Press release). Keysight. April 18, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
  12. ^ Kellaher, Colin (June 25, 2020). "Keysight Technologies Acquires Eggplant From Carlyle Group". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  13. ^ "Keysight to buy French software firm ESI Group for nearly $1 billion". Reuters. June 28, 2023.
  14. ^ "Keysight outbids rival Viavi to buy UK's Spirent for $1.5 billion". Reuters. March 29, 2024.
  15. ^ a b Digitale, Robert (2017-10-29). "HP historical archives destroyed in Santa Rosa fires". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Retrieved 2023-06-03.
  16. ^ Swindell, Bill (August 16, 2021). "Keysight Technologies penalized $6.6 million after exporting unauthorized software". The Press Democrat. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  17. ^ Forrester, Brett (August 9, 2021). "State Department Fines Radar Company for Unauthorized Exports to China, Russia". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  18. ^ "Pushing the limits of tech measurement". 17 August 2021.
  19. ^ "Frost & Sullivan Lauds Keysight Technologies for Maintaining its Lead in the Instrumentation Software Market". Frost & Sullivan. December 3, 2014. Archived from the original on January 10, 2015. Retrieved 2015-01-03. Investing over 12% of its revenues in R&D, resulting into $365 million in its last fiscal year (2013), has led to the company's success, enabling it to introduce new software meeting evolving end-user technologies.
  20. ^ "100 Best Companies to Work For". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
[edit]