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TRADE NEWS: Agilent Technologies Offers 4-Tap De-Emphasis Converter, Highest Flexible SSC Injection

Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:00am EDT
J-BERT Enables Robust Receiver Designs for Next-Generation, Multigigabit Serial
Interfaces Such as QPI, 10GBASE-KR, SATA and USB 3 
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) today announced the addition of a 4-tap
de-emphasis signal converter N4916B, an ultraflexible SSC injection and a SATA
ISI channel to its J-BERT N4903B high-performance serial BERT. The new
capabilities enable R&D and test engineers to accurately characterize receiver
ports and channels of multigigabit serial bus interfaces, such as Quickpath
Interconnect (QPI), Hypertransport, PCI Express, DisplayPort, SerialATA, USB3,
CEI, 10GBASE-KR, 40GBASE-KR and memory interfaces. 

4-Tap De-emphasis Signal Converter

The de-emphasis technique is used in the transmission of digital electrical
signals at gigabit data rates. De-emphasis is a signal pre-distortion to
compensate for signal degradations that occur when transmitting electrical
signals with gigabit rates over PC board traces, backplanes or long cables. 

Agilent`s new de-emphasis signal converter, the N4916B, allows users to emulate
transmitter de-emphasis with one pre- and two post-cursors, as well as
individually adjust de-emphasis levels up to 12.0 dB. With its DC-coupled
outputs, the signal converter tolerates even unbalanced pattern streams. The
N4916B is transparent to jitter, enabling emulation of real-world de-emphasis
and jitter conditions that a receiver is expected to tolerate. Agilent`s new
de-emphasis signal converter can be used as front-end for J-BERT N4903A/B,
ParBERT or other gigabit pattern generators. 

Besides its de-emphasis capabilities, the N4916B offers a unique clock-doubling
option, which enables error, jitter and eye analysis with J-BERT N4903B of
transmitters using half-rate clocks. 

Ultraflexible SSC Injection

The spread spectrum clocking (SSC) injection is becoming more common for
high-speed interconnects. SSC modulates the operating frequency of a circuit
slightly to spread its radiated emissions over a range of frequencies. 

J-BERT N4903B`s SSC option now provides more flexible and arbitrary SSC
injection capabilities that can be combined with sinusoidal jitter injection,
helping R&D engineers emulate worst-case and real-world SSC conditions,
especially for SATA, SAS and USB3 receivers. 

SATA ISI Channel

The new Agilent SATA ISI Channel N4915-60001 helps R&D and test engineers easily
reproduce precise SATA compliant stress conditions for the receiver stress test
when used in combination with J-BERT N4903B. 

"We are very proud to offer the industry`s leading jitter tolerance test
solution," said Jürgen Beck, general manager of Agilent`s Digital Photonic Test
product line. "By adding multitap de-emphasis, ultraflexible SSC and SATA ISI
channel, we significantly simplify the accurate characterization of the
next-generation of serial interfaces operating above 5 Gb/s. With this
introduction we confirm our commitment to enable R&D and validation teams to
release robust high-speed digital interfaces for the next generation of
computer, consumer and communication devices." 

Benefits of the Agilent N4916B de-emphasis signal converter include:

* Easy-to-emulate transmitter de-emphasis with individually adjustable
de-emphasis of 0.0 dB to 12.0 dB in 0.1 dB steps for one pre- and two
post-cursors. Tolerates unbalanced pattern and is jitter transparent. 
* Ability to optimize the receiver`s jitter budget by compensating for signal
degradations caused by the test setup, cabling and test board ("de-embedding")
by using signal de-emphasis. 
* Flexible usage as de-emphasis front-end for J-BERT N4903A/B, ParBERT or other
gigabit pattern generators. 
* Accurate eye, jitter and error analysis of half-rate clocked transmitters with
J-BERT N4903B by using the clock-doubler option.

Benefits of the Agilent J-BERT N4903B Software 6.1 and SATA ISI Channel
include:

* Robust receiver designs by emulating real-world SSC effects via file upload of
arbitrary SSC profiles. 
* Compliant SAS and SATA injection of SSC with an expanded SSC range of up to
10,000 ppm in center-spread mode, support of up-, down-, and center-spread SSC
as well as new SATA ISI channel. 
* Simplified setup for USB3 receiver stress test by simultaneous injection of
SSC and SJ from J-BERT N4903B.

Additional information about Agilent`s N4916B and J-BERT N4903B is available at
www.agilent.com/find/n4916 and www.agilent.com/find/jbert. Information about the
SATA ISI channel can be found at www.agilent.com/find/SATA_rx_test. 

High resolution images of the Agilent N4916B are available at
www.agilent.com/find/n4916B_images. 

More product images are available at www.agilent.com/find/jbert_images. 

U.S. Pricing and Availability

The Agilent N4916B de-emphasis signal converter with optional clock doubler is
available now. Pricing starts at $39,400. 

Agilent`s J-BERT N4903B software rev. 6.1 for more flexible SSC/SJ injection
(Option J11) can be downloaded from www.agilent.com/find/jbert at no charge. 

The N4915-60001 SATA ISI Channel is available now at a price of $7,800. 

Agilent`s Digital Test Standards Program

Agilent`s solutions for digital applications are driven and supported by Agilent
experts who are involved in various international standard committees. We call
it the Agilent Digital Test Standards Program. Our experts are active in the
Joint Electronic Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC), PCI Special Interest Group
(PCI-SIG®),Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), Serial ATA
International Organization (SATA-IO), USB-Implementers Forum (USB-IF), Mobile
Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) Alliance, Ethernet standards (IEEE 802.3),
Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), and many others. Our involvement in these
standards groups and their related workshops, plugfests, and seminars enables
Agilent to bring the right solutions to the market when our customers need them.


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 18,000 employees serve customers in more than
110 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $5.8 billion in fiscal 2008.
Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com. 

"PCI-SIG" and "PCI Express" are registered trademarks of PCI-SIG. 

NOTE TO EDITORS: Sales information is available by calling +1 800 829 4444.
Please do NOT use editor contact or corporate telephone numbers for sales and
product information. 

Information in this news release applies specifically to products available in
the United States. Product availability and specifications may vary in other
markets. 

If you choose to review this item, your readers will receive the quickest
response to their inquiries by mailing them to Agilent Technologies, Electronic
Measurement Group, 5301 Stevens Creek Blvd., MS 54LAK, Santa Clara, CA 95052. 

Further technology, corporate citizenship and executive news is available on the
Agilent news site at www.agilent.com/go/news.

Agilent Technologies
Janet Smith, +1-970-679-5397 (Americas)
janet_smith@agilent.com
Sarah Calnan, +44 (118) 927 5101 (Europe)
sarah_calnan@agilent.com
Iris Ng, +852 31977979 (Asia)
iris-hw_ng@agilent.com



Copyright Business Wire 2009



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