PE Biosystems and Agilent Sign Agreement

Instrument Business Outlook, March 15, 2000

Palo Alto and Foster City, CA 3/13/00-Agilent Technologies and PE Biosystems/PE SCIEX have entered into a cooperative agreement for the integration of each companies technologies. PE Biosystems and PE Sciex will combine their mass spectrometers with Agilent's 1100 Series LC Systems which PE Biosystems will sell and support on its LC-MS platform. Agilent chromatography software will be made compatible with PE Biosystems' MS software and the two systems will be combined. This agreement follows a less inclusive OEM agreement implemented in October 1999.

This agreement is fundamentally an OEM arrangement for the sale of the Agilent 1100 HPLC to PE Biosystems for its LC-MS product platforms. However, the integration of Agilent's new chromatography software with PE Biosystems' MS software will result in a more saleable and supportable LC-MS product. It also suggests that PE Biosystems is unlikely to emphasize its Turbochrom software license. And while both PE Biosystems and Agilent will benefit from this new agreement, PE Sciex could be the real winner because of increased sales of its mass spectrometers.