TRADE NEWS: Agilent Technologies Announces Availability of Industry's Highest-Performance Quadrupole Time-of-Flight LC/MS; System Sets New Standard for Sensitivity, Speed and Mass Accuracy

Business Wire, May 30, 2006

SEATTLE -- Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) today announced the availability its quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) liquid chromatograph/mass spectrometer (LC/MS), a key addition to the company's new 6000 Series of LC/MS systems. With a tenfold sensitivity advantage over other instruments in its class, the fastest data-dependent acquisition speed and better than 2 ppm mass accuracy in MS mode, Agilent's bench-top 6510 Q-TOF LC/MS sets a new standard for analytical performance.

Q-TOF mass spectrometers are widely used to identify and characterize compounds in complex samples, bringing the power of accurate mass to MS/MS experiments. Important applications in drug discovery include protein identification and characterization, biomarker discovery and metabolite identification. In food-safety testing and environmental and forensic analysis, Q-TOF technology is applied to structural studies, compound screening and confirmation.

"Q-TOF LC/MS is a premier qualitative analysis technology, but customers have historically faced a trade-off between sensitivity and mass accuracy," said Taia Ergueta, general manager of Agilent's mass spectrometry business. "The combination of mass accuracy, speed and sensitivity of Agilent's 6510 enables leading-edge workflows such as profiling, which can greatly improve the results in proteomics, metabolomics and metabolite identification. The system can also advance other research by allowing customers to uncover and characterize more compounds in challenging samples with greater speed, efficiency and confidence."

Instrument complexity and the need for frequent servicing have prevented earlier Q-TOF technology from achieving its full potential. With the 6510, Agilent has delivered a Q-TOF with industry-leading analytical performance, along with Agilent reliability and unsurpassed simplicity of use.

The Agilent 6510 facilitates the identification of low-abundance compounds via attomole-level sensitivity -- unmatched among Q-TOFs -- and a wide in-spectrum dynamic range (three to four orders of magnitude). Scanning speeds of up to 20 full-scan spectra per second increase throughput and allow the system to keep pace with the fastest LC systems available, including Agilent's 1200 Series LC. With mass accuracy approaching that of Fourier Transform MS (less than 2 ppm MS and 5 ppm MS/MS) and Agilent's autotune technology, the 6510 allows any operator to identify unknowns with great confidence.

Like all of Agilent's LC/MS systems, the 6510 is compatible with the broadest range of ion sources, including Agilent's HPLC-Chip/MS source, which supports robust nanospray LC/MS performance; and the proprietary multimode ion source, which increases throughput and productivity by reducing the need for repeated experimental runs.

Agilent's MassHunter Workstation software provides single-point instrument control and rapid resolution MS data processing capabilities to the 6510, simplifying operation and further improving productivity. Advanced, application-specific software packages, including MassHunter Profiling software, Spectrum Mill and GeneSpring MS, enable fast, sensitive extraction of data, and quickly convert complex analyses into answers about the identity and composition of proteins, metabolites, biomarkers and impurities. Built on open architecture and industry standards, the MassHunter Workstation allows users to integrate the 6510 into existing IT environments or Agilent's own OpenLab system for centralized data management.

For more information about the Agilent 6510 Q-TOF, contact your sales representative, the Agilent Customer Call Center (phone numbers by country available online at www.chem.agilent.com/scripts/cag_feedback.asp), or visit Agilent online at www.agilent.com/chem/QTOF.> Availability

The Agilent 6510 Q-TOF LC/MS is available now, with shipments beginning in September 2006.

Agilent in Mass Spectrometry

Agilent is a leading provider of GC/MS, LC/MS and ICP-MS technologies for organic and inorganic spectroscopy. Among the company's key products are the 5973 and 5975 inert MSDs, the 7500 Series ICP-MS systems, and the new Agilent 6000 Series LC/MS triple quadrupole, ion trap, time-of-flight and quadrupole time-of-flight instruments. Agilent provides innovative HPLC-Chip/MS technology and the broadest range of ion sources in the industry. As a leader in separations and software, Agilent can address the entire customer workflow from sample introduction through data analysis.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) is the world's premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company's 20,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenue of $5.1 billion in fiscal 2005. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.

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