Great science at the forefront of…everything

It begins in 1939 when Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard start HP out of a small garage in Palo Alto, California. Their eponymous company follows what is now one of the most enduring entrepreneurial templates in the history of tech, as other companies with modest roots in garages are Apple, Amazon, and Google.

Sixty years later, on the threshold of a new century, HP spins out its test and measurement divisions in 1999 as a new company—Agilent. In short order the enterprise breaks records as the largest IPO in Silicon Valley’s history.

The timing of Agilent’s creation seems prescient because within a decade, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) arrives with an accelerated blurring of lines between the physical, digital, and biological worlds. 4IR and Industry 4.0 aren’t the only neologisms attempting to capture the zeitgeist of the day as embedded connectivity and ubiquitous technologies reshape society in seismic ways. For example, the metaverse, the Internet of Things (IoT), and the Great Reset also aim to put into words how automation and data come together to underpin nearly every aspect of the human experience.

Agilent proves an early leader in integrating 4IR technologies into multiple fields, from chemistry and physics to material science, including nanotechnology. Their Atomic Force Microscopes (AFMs), when powered by AI data analysis tools, give scientists a view into the properties of materials at the nanoscale. Meaning the devices can now scan surfaces with unprecedented precision, offering previously hidden insights to help inventors predict how materials behave at the molecular level. This can lead to new materials for everything from semiconductors to renewable energy technologies.

It’s just one example of how Agilent supports scientists in their life science research, patient diagnostics, and safety testing of our water, food, and pharmaceuticals. The vast portfolio of Agilent’s 228 life science solutions spans the technological alphabet, from A-Line (high-performance liquid chromatography fittings) to ZORBAX (liquid chromatography columns). While very few of their technologies are easy for the average layperson to understand at a glance, anyone can appreciate the company’s mission and the benefits it delivers to humankind:

Agilent brings great science to life.

With nearly 16,000 patents held globally, capturing a comprehensive view of Agilent’s innovations portfolio is nearly impossible. Fortunately, highlighting just a handful of the impressive ways they help solve some of the planet’s most significant challenges reveals a reliable pattern. It’s a template that repeats itself in innovations their engineers are responsible for, beginning with DNA.

In 1990 an international research effort to sequence the entire human genome commences. By 2003 the contributions of academic, governmental, and commercial organizations spanning the globe result in the Human Genome Project (HGP) successfully identifying and cataloging all of the genes in human DNA. Agilent’s leadership in this monumental effort is primarily through its microarray and targeted sequencing technologies.

• Microarrays allow researchers to quickly analyze large sections of DNA to identify the locations of specific gene sequences, solving a needle-in-a-haystack problem.
• Targeted sequencing contributes to a deeper understanding of genetic variations such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurological disorders—this cost-effective and high-throughput approach to sequencing leads to personalized medicine with treatments tailored to an individual’s genetic profile. 

Air pollution in our cities, pesticide run off in our water, and dangerous heavy metals in our croplands are just a handful of global problems where Agilent technologies are having local impacts.

Agilent’s 7890B Gas Chromatograph system with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) is used to track volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) in cities like Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai, China. Despite the scale of the challenge in thriving metropolises like these, data from the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau is encouraging. In the past decade numbers show that GC-MS monitoring leads to reductions across the board, including a 20-30% drop in NOx emissions and reduced hospital admissions for respiratory issues.

In rural India, the country’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) reports in 2020 that GC-MS technologies lead to a 40% improvement in the detection of pesticide residues in drinking water in regions heavily dependent on agriculture. Meanwhile, Germany’s Rhine River communities see a decrease of 50% in pesticide residues found in local drinking water after implementing GC-MS monitoring.

It’s no surprise that Agilent’s engineers and scientists develop solutions to help clean up the world and leave it in better shape for future generations. Because since their founding a quarter century ago they’ve worked to reduce the company’s energy, waste, water, and CO2 emissions. They’re going even further with a commitment to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The strategic decision includes a comprehensive approach to net zero goals, including adherence to Paris Agreement climate targets, clearly defined interim goals, and a commitment to the global Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).

Finally, Agilent’s technologies targeting food safety save lives by preventing foodborne illnesses. Specifically, its Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS) solutions detect pathogens in food with greater sensitivity and speed, enabling quicker recalls and reducing the number of illnesses or fatalities from food contaminated by Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli.

A massive universe of data is at the core of these impressive real-world benefits. But as Agilent appreciates, managing, optimizing, and securing data across hybrid and multi-cloud environments is an increasingly complex challenge.

Intelligent, flexible, seamless, easy

Fortunately, Agilent data resides on the intelligent data infrastructure from NetApp. Rich Wong, the company’s data management architect says, “Our engineers produce a lot of data. My team serves that data to them quickly and securely. It’s all about helping our research and development teams do their day-to-day jobs more efficiently.” 

It’s a follow-the-sun model with data transiting geographies like clockwork, from the Americas to Europe and Asia and back again. There was a time when data platforms weren’t so agile, meaning Agilent’s teams spent too much time and energy downloading data at the beginning of their workday and then uploading modified data sets at the end of their shift. With NetApp FlexCache in place, Agilent’s global teams can now collaborate on a master repository of data unified across Agilent’s storage platforms. The remote caching solution simplifies file distribution, reduces wide area network (WAN) latency, and lowers overall bandwidth costs. Rich continues, “FlexCache lets our teams work with the data instead of managing the data.”

Agilent’s hybrid cloud model provides the same flexibility. Their workload placement strategy allows them to provision data sets through public clouds like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure seamlessly on a case-by-case basis. Data collaboration is powered by whichever solution makes the most sense, whether on-premises or in the cloud. “Because we understand our R&D business needs, we can determine the right resources for the right workloads,” says Rich.

His team also enjoys the NetApp ONTAP operating system (OS). Rich says, “Having a common management plan for everybody and everything we do makes operating that much easier.” Whether overseeing workloads on-premises, in the cloud, or in one cluster or multiple clusters, with the ONTAP OS on the job, data admins and other operations pros need to learn only one solution. In a similar vein, NetApp BlueXP simplifies management across Agilent’s data infrastructure by enabling Rich’s team to have a view into their multi-cloud data estate through a single control plane. Rich is a fan: ““We chose NetApp because of operational simplicity. My team can manage everything from a single console without having to log in to multiple consoles. That’s a big deal for us.”

Confidence is built in

While Rich is a technologist at heart, he’s also ‘all in’ on Agilent’s mission to help customers worldwide protect the environment and enhance the quality of life for people everywhere. He says, “I’ve always been interested in technology to help improve the lives of others. So Agilent’s values as a life science company at the forefront of using technology to help others makes this a perfect role for me. It’s what excites me when I wake up every morning.”

He goes on, “Our business model is built on trust. For me, that means as individuals and as a team, we can store and serve the data our researchers and laboratories need to do their jobs. That’s why our data lives on NetApp today.” The unified data infrastructure that Rich manages for the company globally stores the data behind Agilent’s brand promise: Trusted Answers.

That promise to scientists everywhere makes clear that the world’s most important data lives on NetApp, which is why NetApp and Agilent forge a relationship far beyond business-as-usual. Rich says, “It doesn’t feel like a customer-vendor relationship. We work hand in hand, coming up with strategies and exchanging ideas on best practices to try and adopt. It’s been a very, very good relationship. I have confidence in the NetApp team to provide us with the proper guidance, support, and answers. Confidence is built in.”

This is a critical point because, as Rich points out, his relationship as data management architect for Agilent’s engineering teams is built on trust. Trust that their data is provisioned on demand, on time, and securely from anywhere, any time. That includes infrastructure stability backed by the NetApp Six Nines Data Availability Guarantee, or 99.9999% uptime.

As part of his intelligent data infrastructure strategy, Rich has the best cyber protection on his side with a Ransomware Recovery Guarantee from NetApp. He says, “From a security perspective, having the least access to the most data is the most important thing.” It’s Agilent’s way to protect its intellectual property and proprietary systems from, say, accidental deletion or external threats.

Rich continues, “NetApp helps us identify anything that might be a threat. They provide us insight on how to look at a situation and how to automatically take action.” Agilent's security strategy includes different levels of access at different levels of operations management around the world. This role-based control strategy ensures that the right engineers have the right level of access at all times.

Many argue that we are already experiencing the Fifth Industrial Revolution (5IR), broadly defined as an era in which the industrialization of human output is achieved alongside advanced technologies. While not quite the singularity of science fiction where humans and machines merge, 5IR is used to describe a time when humans and machines collaborate to democratize knowledge and labor, to creatively tap into ways to improve the human condition, and to sustainably and ethically address social, environmental, and economic challenges. It sounds like Agilent’s wheelhouse, without doubt.

While the jury is still out on a definitive border marking the official frontiers of 5IR, we do know with certainty that Agilent remains the sole analytical and clinical laboratory technology company to be recognized twice by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a ‘Global Lighthouse’ for its use of 4IR technologies like AI, machine learning, robotics, data analytics, and the industrial IoT at scale, all to improve financial, operational, and sustainable performance.

These are prestigious designations, as the WEF defines ‘lighthouse’ companies as pioneers who deliver unprecedented impact by strategically weaving innovation throughout everything they do. Put simply, the recognitions confirm Agilent’s proven ability to bring great science to life.

The lighthouse designations are just among the latest in a long series of milestones only imagined by HP's founders in that garage back in 1939. Today, Agilent’s 18,000 employees carry forward their founders’ vision to create a better world through scientific discovery.

Discoveries that shine a light toward a brighter future. 

Dynamic enterprises like Agilent know that success tomorrow begins with managing today’s exponential data growth and navigating the complexities of multi-cloud environments through a unified approach to data storage.

Across its three operating segments in life science, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets, Agilent is poised to build on its rich history of achievements. With more than two decades of data powering AI insights, Agilent is already out in front, leading the way toward the next generation of great science.