From HP to Agilent, from Agilent to Keysight, what's next?

[pascal_sweden]

Many people on this forum, stay with their trusted brand. Even if the specs of other scopes are much better in several areas, and you get more value for money, some people are still willing to pay much more, just for getting a particular brand.

But actually, you can not say any longer that you pay for the name, because what's in a name, when a company keeps changing names all the time.

It seems like that this company has no clue at all about corporate image and branding. Traditional companies like Nike and Coca-Cola do know the value of their corporate name very well. The corporate name of a company can be worth billions:
http://profit.ndtv.com/news/industries/article-nike-is-worlds-most-valuable-sports-brand-in-forbes-list-679293

Must have been a costly stunt to change the name. Changing the logo's on the products, user manuals and other documentation material, website, establish a new legal entity, etc.

They would have better sent their corporate board members to a one day mini-MBA session, to learn about corporate image and branding, and understand the value of a corporate name.

[HighVoltage]

There was probably only one single benefit for this change, called: "Shareholder Value"
For everyone else the name change sucked big time.

But keep in mind, that for the most part the people behind the company stayed the same.
I just had a warranty claim with Keysight Germany on a defective PSU and it was picked up the next day.
They called me several times to make sure everything was going as planned.

Try that with Tektronix in Germany....

As for the most part, I am very happy with my Agilent / Keysight gear.
What bugs me more than the name change is the fact, that we will no longer get schematics for new equipment.
How will we repair a 2015 Keysight scope in 5 or 10 years, if it should break and the warranty is gone?
We are forced to buy new equipment.
The days that a scope could last easily 20 years and if needed can be repaired, are over ... it seems.

[codeboy2k]

Must have been a costly stunt to change the name. Changing the logo's on the products, user manuals and other documentation material, website, establish a new legal entity, etc.

It wasn't just a name change for the sake of change. They haven't changed their name, Agilent still exists.  Keysight is the T&M division spin off. They created a new company, just as when HP spun off the T&M division in 1999 and called it Agilent, and kept the HP name for their printer/scanner/PC division.  Over the years, Agilent has turned itself into a Life Sciences, Diagnostics, Genetics, and Biochemistry company.

They wanted to spin off the Test and Measurement Division of Agilent and so they created Keysight. Crap name, but same people, same products.

The rest of Agilent is much bigger than the T&M division.  They make processing equipment for Biochemistry, Genetics, Biology, Pharmacology, Criminology, Forensics and Toxicology, Medical Diagnostics, Life Sciences, NMR, Spectrometry, Chromatography, Food and Agro test products, Telecommunications and a whole lot more than I've said. (maybe they are out of Telecom now)

While they may have started off with Hewlett and Packard in their garage making test equipment... that became such a small part of what Agilent did today.  It is, however, the part that we know intimately (as electrical and electronic engineers).

As for what's next, I think this is good for the T&M division, as Keysight.  They can grow bigger, focusing on T&M, and it will probably be easier for them to develop new products now.  I suspect it would have been a yearly headache getting budget money for things they wanted to do, asking up the chain of command to a CEO that ultimately was focusing their company on Life Sciences, Diagnostics and Genetics, and furthering their acquisitions in these disciplines.   Now they are their own boss.

[Zbig]

This never ceases to amuse me, each time I turn my meter on. It's running the most recent firmware version listed on the website.

EDIT:
This and the screen that gets scratched whenever you look at it funny, that is.

[codeboy2k]

This never ceases to amuse me, each time I turn my meter on. It's running the most recent firmware version listed on the website.

You can send it in for a upgrade, they can fix it so that the display says Keysight.

[Richard Crowley]

Of course this has all been discussed before, including an extensive blog by Dave:
http://www.eevblog.com/2014/01/09/hp-err-agilent-has-a-new-name/

It seems quite likely that the T&M division had BOTH name changes forced upon them from the corporate masters.

[Zbig]

This never ceases to amuse me, each time I turn my meter on. It's running the most recent firmware version listed on the website.
You can send it in for a upgrade, they can fix it so that the display says Keysight.

Simple and effective. Seems to fix the scratching issue as well. I like it

[Noise Floor]

It is annoying, I agree. 

However, I think this is a good thing that has happened (maybe I'm to much an optimist). For the first time since the original HP the folks from that legacy are solely focused on T&M. (Hopefully they stay that way this time, see Agilent).  I recently read that Keysight is actually increasing their spend on R&D:

MWJ: When we talked at Mobile World Congress last year you said, “My goal is to keep R&D investment as strong or stronger than it currently is.” Have you been able to achieve that goal?

RN: Yes, in the past we had run R&D at 12% of revenue and we have made a commitment to increase R&D to 13% of revenue. That is what we did for Q1 and what we intend for the rest of the year. This additional investment will help us grow more quickly.

So if that is true, it looks like the spinoff has lead to an improvement in investment, hopefully leading to some cool stuff and improvements long term.  Maybe the money will be used to provide schematics again. 

[Rupunzell]

Users are expected to scrap or "Recycle" their "obsolete" instrumentation every 3-7 years without end. This means profits for the manufactures of this stuff and greater cost to the users under the guise of newer is better in the on going march of technology.

The name change from hewlett packard to Agilent was driven by none other than Carly Fironia and the hp Board. They understood well the market value of the hp name brand. The use of hp for computing products and printers were designed to maximize profits and less about preserving what Bill & Dave created. Bill Hewlett's son understood well what was going on at hp and filed a law suite in an effort to stop this.. ended in failure. The entire company episode was much about profits for investors and share holders who put that Bitch In Heels (Carly Fiornia) in as CEO. That Bitch In Heels had the nerve and arrogance to remove Bill & Dave's portrait that stood proud in the lobby of 1501 Page Mill Road.

hp had an episode of profit greed back in the 70's. The computing group selling hp300 systems at the time was selling systems at or below cost as an effort to gain market share. The goal was to bust all the other computer companies from that time and take over the market. A marketing strategy that was well use by the Semi companies of that time. Losses from this half-baked idea resulted in significant losses at hp. To keep the ideal running, that computing group went looking for a bank loan of $100 Million USD which was well on it's way and mostly approved. The plan almost went forward.. until Dave Packard returned from his tour of duty with the US State Department. Upon Dave's return and getting word about what was happening, Dave put a stop to the $100 Million dollar loan, increased the market price of the hp 300 systems and reprimanded each and every one of those managers who cooked up this idea. This could have been the seeds of why hp became a computer company, change of name to Agilent and now Keysight. Today hp as a computing company is not doing all that well with The Quaker Oats Guy (Meg from ebay) as CEO.


Bernice

There was probably only one single benefit for this change, called: "Shareholder Value"
For everyone else the name change sucked big time.

How will we repair a 2015 Keysight scope in 5 or 10 years, if it should break and the warranty is gone?
We are forced to buy new equipment.
The days that a scope could last easily 20 years and if needed can be repaired, are over ... it seems.

[babysitter]

Had to send my least favourite Ex-Agilent DMM at for repair to Keysight germany. USB interface failed again, just 2 years after the last event. This device has a exchange program and the new meter I got has both names, Agilent and Keysight on the front panel now. 

[rdl]

I don't know why exactly but it makes me cringe every time I see that name and the silly little squiggle logo on something. I just don't like it. There's no telling how much research, time and money went in to deciding on a new name and the best they could do was "Keysight"? 

[The Doktor]

The entire company episode was much about profits for investors and share holders who put that Bitch In Heels (Carly Fiornia) in as CEO. That Bitch In Heels had the nerve and arrogance to remove Bill & Dave's portrait that stood proud in the lobby of 1501 Page Mill Road.

What do you have against heels? And do you suspect she would do any better if she wore some hideous Birkenstocks? The shoes ain't the problem, the bitch is. And I must add, the current bitch is no better

[Rick Law]

The entire company episode was much about profits for investors and share holders who put that Bitch In Heels (Carly Fiornia) in as CEO. That Bitch In Heels had the nerve and arrogance to remove Bill & Dave's portrait that stood proud in the lobby of 1501 Page Mill Road.

What do you have against heels? And do you suspect she would do any better if she wore some hideous Birkenstocks? The shoes ain't the problem, the bitch is. And I must add, the current bitch is no better

Come now, why call them names.  I too think she made her share of mistakes.  HP buying Compac was not smart.  Her fault was in judgement, not personality.  Calling her dumb or even calling her moron may be more appropriate than bitch.

[Rick Law]

Another reason for spin offs is to make it easier for investors to evaluate the stock value.

A corporation with (A:) a high-growth plus high-risk business and (B:) a low-growth plus low-risk business makes it difficult to value the stock.  So, split it up into two companies each with its own personality in this case helps.

Investors who like to take risks for the potential high return go with A, and those "retirement income like" conservative investors can go with B.

[Co6aka]

From HP to Agilent, from Agilent to Keysight, what's next?

"Lockout" perhaps.

[eas]

Another reason for spin offs is to make it easier for investors to evaluate the stock value.

A corporation with (A:) a high-growth plus high-risk business and (B:) a low-growth plus low-risk business makes it difficult to value the stock.  So, split it up into two companies each with its own personality in this case helps.

Investors who like to take risks for the potential high return go with A, and those "retirement income like" conservative investors can go with B.

Yeah, and when the lines of business are so independent, what is the benefit in keeping them together?  So that people can get into turf battles? Tradition and nostalgia? Whatever. I have a fondness for DEC (first computer I got use of was an PDP 11/34). I even got ahold of some of the MCMs used in later PDP-11 CPUs. I'm also fond of Evans and Sutherland (grew up in SLC a couple of miles from their offices), and hey, the founder of Tektronix was a graduate and major contributor to my Alma Matter, but life goes on. They are just companies, some managed to outlive their founders, some didn't.

Seems to me that, as annoying as the name changes are, Keysight is probably better off on its own, as Keysight, than it is jockeying for attention and resources with Agilent other, faster growing businesses, or in something like HP going into the Fiorna era.

[miguelvp]

Maybe they should have chosen "Hingsight 20/20" since it seems that's what is expected from them.

[Gunb]

Many people on this forum, stay with their trusted brand. Even if the specs of other scopes are much better in several areas, and you get more value for money, some people are still willing to pay much more, just for getting a particular brand.

But actually, you can not say any longer that you pay for the name, because what's in a name, when a company keeps changing names all the time.

It seems like that this company has no clue at all about corporate image and branding. Traditional companies like Nike and Coca-Cola do know the value of their corporate name very well. The corporate name of a company can be worth billions:
http://profit.ndtv.com/news/industries/article-nike-is-worlds-most-valuable-sports-brand-in-forbes-list-679293

Must have been a costly stunt to change the name. Changing the logo's on the products, user manuals and other documentation material, website, establish a new legal entity, etc.

They would have better sent their corporate board members to a one day mini-MBA session, to learn about corporate image and branding, and understand the value of a corporate name.

I agree with you.

There are names left: Keyless, Lowside, Highside, NoSight  , ...

Don't like modern times, traditional brands disappear without any reason except making more money.

[HighVoltage]

What would probably be much worse than the name change, would be a takeover by Danaher corporation.
A standalone Keysight company is much easier to take over than the huge Agilent company before.

[dom0]

HPAK, Keithley, Tektronix and Fluke under one roof? That's the last straw! I quit! 

[Howardlong]

Isn't "Shareholder Value" another one of those MBA buzz phrases?

The self-serving management consultant/MBA  modus operandi is to continually change things, and whether or not it needs changing, you can be sure at they will change it, after all how are they going to justify themselves otherwise? Six month project followed by a couple of hours of Powerpoints showing ROI within two years, job done.

Two years later, how often is that ROi met? Almost never. And where are the  self-styled industry expert management consultants when it didn't work out? Oh, they're off another money for old rope job, changing things usually again for trumped up reasons.

As has been mentioned, you only have to look at the cluster**** series of HP buyouts in the last 20 years to see how you can take a previously highly regarded brand to junk status, EDS and Autonomy being the latest part of the race to the bottom. I wonder how the Powerpoint presentations, glad handing and golf course politics went before those deals were done?

In retrospect it was a good thing that Agilent split off from HP before they were dragged down into mediocrity too. Luckily their customers were wise enough to be able to understand that it was nothing but a name change, and the quality didn't suffer as a result (except perhaps no schematics for servicing of course!). I suspect the Keysight things will be the same, but I still feel it's unnecessary, both the Med/chem and TE sides of the business have good reputations. Yet another win for a sharp-suited MBA/management consultant to earn a few bucks, and who won't be there to answer when the shareholder value didn't quite work out the way those crystal ball gazing overly optimistic Powerpoint slides said they would.

Side note: I did enjoy reading Rupunzell's description, although if a bloke had used the term "bitch in heels" I fear he'd be at risk of being branded a misogynist! :-)

[codeboy2k]

What would probably be much worse than the name change, would be a takeover by Danaher corporation.
A standalone Keysight company is much easier to take over than the huge Agilent company before.

They might be able to block such a takeover as it would create a Danaher monopoly , since they already own Fluke, Keithley and Tektronix.

[codeboy2k]

Danaher and Keysight might, however, both compete for a Rigol takeover   Rigol  is privately held, the founder(s) might be ready to cash out

Rigol: 400 employees, 75MM in revenues
Keysight: 9700 employees, 2900MM in revenues.

Also, in their favor, Keysight already has a relationship with them.

[Blofeld]

The entire company episode was much about profits for investors and share holders who put that Bitch In Heels (Carly Fiornia) in as CEO. That Bitch In Heels had the nerve and arrogance to remove Bill & Dave's portrait that stood proud in the lobby of 1501 Page Mill Road.

What do you have against heels? And do you suspect she would do any better if she wore some hideous Birkenstocks? The shoes ain't the problem, the bitch is. And I must add, the current bitch is no better

Come now, why call them names.  I too think she made her share of mistakes.  HP buying Compac was not smart.  Her fault was in judgement, not personality.  Calling her dumb or even calling her moron may be more appropriate than bitch.

In Fiorina's defense, it has to be said that she learned from her mistake. She seems to have realized that running such a big company is not her strength, an now she is striving for something else:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carly_Fiorina_presidential_campaign,_2016

"It has been widely reported that Fiorina will announce her candidacy on May 4, 2015 via an online announcement."

[Nerull]

Many people on this forum, stay with their trusted brand. Even if the specs of other scopes are much better in several areas, and you get more value for money, some people are still willing to pay much more, just for getting a particular brand.

But actually, you can not say any longer that you pay for the name, because what's in a name, when a company keeps changing names all the time.

It seems like that this company has no clue at all about corporate image and branding. Traditional companies like Nike and Coca-Cola do know the value of their corporate name very well. The corporate name of a company can be worth billions:
http://profit.ndtv.com/news/industries/article-nike-is-worlds-most-valuable-sports-brand-in-forbes-list-679293

Must have been a costly stunt to change the name. Changing the logo's on the products, user manuals and other documentation material, website, establish a new legal entity, etc.

They would have better sent their corporate board members to a one day mini-MBA session, to learn about corporate image and branding, and understand the value of a corporate name.

I think you misunderstand the reason for the change - it wasn't because Agilent decided they needed a new name, it was because the much larger potion of Agilent that actually makes money wanted to dump the T&M division, so they split off into a new company which needed a new name. The parts of Agilent they cared about kept the name.