23rd February , 2004

Europe France : Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) today announced the industry's first active-call test system for real-time management of advanced 3G UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) services. UMTS, the next-generation standard for GSM services, supports expanded data transfer rates necessary for wireless services such as video telephony and multimedia streaming. The proven Agilent OSS Wireless QoS Manager enables wireless communication service providers to quickly identify and isolate 2G, 2.5G and now 3G service problems across multitechnology networks, minimizing downtime while providing higher quality of service (QoS) and faster time to market for new services.

From geographically distributed locations, the Wireless QoS Manager allows unattended, remote testing of voice services, low-level protocols and advanced services using centralized SIM (subscriber identity module) multiplexing. Agilent's solution performs active test calls on an extensive range of wireless services, such as video telephony, multimedia streaming, mobile instant messaging, unified messaging, voice, SMS (short message service), e-mail, Web and MMS (multimedia message services). Automated tests identify service problems, such as slow download speeds in a particular country, delayed MMS messages and poor performance of video streaming, while operator-initiated tests verify problem resolution.

"It's a demanding world," said Sanjay Mewada, vice president, Telecom Hardware and Software Research at the Yankee Group. "Wireless service providers must increase average revenue per subscriber very quickly by rolling out new services such as video streaming and video telephony. At the same time, they must also maintain the same stable, consistent quality their customers have come to expect with standard mobile service. In an environment where legacy services co-exist with 3G offerings, interoperability testing and roaming automation will be critical requirements for service deployment and profitability."

"The new infrastructure required for 3G services introduces a new level of complexity to network and service operations," said Giorgio Dina, Agilent OSS vice president and general manager. "To simplify service testing, troubleshooting and continuous monitoring -- both before commercial launch and during operation -- service providers require an industrial-strength, proven management solution. With seven of the top 10 European wireless carriers already depending on our Wireless QoS Manager solution for ensuring high-quality 2G and 2.5G services, Agilent is uniquely positioned to help carriers effectively move to 3G."

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