Those of us who have been around electronic instrumentation for a while can remember the days when Hewlett-Packard instruments were considered the cream of the crop. Where I worked, we always tried to get to the lab early on the days we had tests to run so we could get our hands on the highly coveted H-P gear in the equipment inventory.

Back in 1999, H-P spun off its electronic instrument division into Agilent, together with the life sciences end of its instrumentation business. Today marks another change in the storied history of the instrumentation once bearing Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard’s names. On Aug. 1 Agilent spun off its electronic instrumentation business into an independent subsidiary called Keysight Technologies. The Keysight website (FAQ) on the subject for its customers and investors.