Agilent Breaks 2 Gigabit-Per-Second Performance Barrier With New Fibre Channel Host Adapters and Controller IC.

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 1, 1999--

New Products Part of Next-Generation Fibre Channel

Connectivity Products

Agilent Technologies, Inc., a new company formed from the realignment of Hewlett-Packard Company, today announced three new Fibre Channel connectivity products that eclipse the 2 gigabit-per-second (Gb/s) performance level. They are among the first 2 Gb/sec Fibre Channel products to enter the market.

The new products include two new Fibre Channel host adapters, the HHBA-5220 and HHBA-5221, and the new Tachyon XL2 protocol controller IC. Agilent's 2 Gb/s technology will be demonstrated this month at several locations at Comdex.

The 2 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology delivers up to 200 megabytes-per-second (MB/s) of aggregate bandwidth on a Fibre Channel link or arbitrated loop. In full-duplex mode, the aggregate bandwidth can be as high as 400 MB/s. This increased bandwidth enables improved performance in data-intensive applications like video editing and processing, 3-D graphics rendering, backup and restore, data mining, data warehousing and disaster recovery.

"Agilent has led the development of 2 Gb/s Fibre Channel technology to satisfy the needs of its customers who demand higher bandwidth," said Julian Elliott, general manager of Agilent's Storage Networking Business Unit.

"Agilent's Tachyon XL2 IC and host adapters, combined with other 2 Gb/s Fibre Channel products, provide these customers with the connectivity solutions they need to develop next-generation storage area networks (SAN)."

Tachyon XL2-based Host Adapters

The HHBA-5220 and HHBA-5221 are 32- and 64-bit, 33 and 66 megahertz (MHz) PCI Fibre Channel host adapters. They are designed for PC server and workstation platforms running data-intensive, high-bandwidth applications. Both adapters are Microsoft(R) Cluster Server (Wolfpack) certifiable. The HHBA-5220 is equipped with a high-speed serial data connector (HSSDC) for use with copper media, and the HHBA-5221 is equipped with a small form-factor fiber-optic connector for use with optical media. Their feature set includes the following: -0-

--   2 Gb/s and 1 Gb/s link speed support;
--   full SAN support (F-port and FL-port operation);
--   BIOS support (enabling booting from local storage, or across an
     arbitrated-loop or fabric SAN);
--   class 2 and class 3 support;
--   FC-tape support for high-speed tape backup; and
--   intra- and inter-cabinet connectivity (via an HSSDC connector).

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Agilent provides device drivers for leading operating systems, including the following: -0-

--   Windows NT(R) ;
--   Windows(R) 2000;
--   Solaris X86;
--   Solaris SPARC;
--   Linux;
--   Netware; and
--   Unixware.

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All Agilent device drivers employ interrupt-avoidance techniques that reduce the number of CPU interrupts to one or fewer per I/O operation -- freeing the host CPU to spend more time processing applications.

Tachyon XL2 Protocol Controller

The HPFC-5200 Tachyon XL2 Fibre Channel controller IC is a single-chip PCI Fibre Channel controller for 32- and 64-bit, 33 and 66 MHz PCI systems. It is the only Fibre Channel controller that does not require a companion SRAM. It is designed to deliver Fibre Channel connectivity to storage subsystems, storage routers, host adapters and host computer motherboards.

The Tachyon XL2 features an enhanced architecture and several new features, including the following: -0-

--   2 Gb/s and 1 Gb/s link speed support;
--   integrated 2 / 1 Gb/s SerDes, and external SerDes support;
--   a secondary port interface (SPI) for high performance storage
     architectures;
--   full fabric support, including in-order and out-of-order frame
     delivery support; and
--   FC service class 2 and class 3, including full hardware
     management of ACKs (acknowledgements).

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The Tachyon XL2 is based on Agilent's Tachyon state-machine architecture, which uses hardware automation -- the fastest method of managing I/O operations -- to execute Fibre Channel protocol and SCSI command operations. And unlike the performance of RISC-based Fibre Channel architectures, the performance of the Tachyon architecture is not limited by the bandwidth of an embedded RISC processor.

Availability

The Tachyon XL2 IC is expected to be available for OEM sampling before the end of 1999. The HHBA-5220 and HHBA-5221 are expected to be available in early 2000.

Further information about these products can be found on the Web at http://www.agilent.com/view/fibrechannel.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies, Inc. is a diversified technology company, resulting from Hewlett-Packard Company's plan to strategically realign itself into two fully independent companies. With 43,000 employees serving customers in more than 120 countries, Agilent Technologies, as a subsidiary of HP, is a global leader in designing and manufacturing test, measurement and monitoring instruments, systems and solutions, and semiconductor and optical components. The company serves markets that include communications, electronics, life sciences and healthcare. The businesses comprising Agilent had net revenues of nearly $8 billion in fiscal year 1998.

Information about Agilent Technologies can be found on the Web at http://www.agilent.com.

Microsoft, Windows NT, and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

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