I think we have learned from the past on how to maximize opportunities even during turbulent economic times. The key is not to slow down in terms of research and development and our division continues to be heavily focused on new tools and technology in the areas of in-circuit test, and boundary scan test and new application areas like LED testing and functional testing. It's also important to use our technology to help customers save money in the longer term, through improving manufacturing quality via wider coverage to detect more defects before they are shipped, through faster test throughputs for better efficiencies
In the area of LEDs for example, world energy shortages and environmental concerns will continue to drive further development in this area. Agilent hopes to accelerate our customers' success in this area by providing faster and more accurate LED measurements via our Agilent i3070 and i1000D in-circuit testers.Ultimately, quality is a longer-term ticket to success so customers need to know how to ensure quality, so when the ramp-up comes, as markets recover, they are ready not just for quantity, but quality production
There is a similar trend for functional testing - more customers are looking for ways to improve quality before ship and we are already working with manufacturers to see how they can actually save on the cost of test by investing in standard functional test solutions, like our flexible PXI-based TS-8900 solution. Because of its modular platform, manufacturers will have the flexibility to retain and reuse a major part of their test solution even with new products being tested.
