Agilent to Acquire OSI

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A - news), a leading provider of innovative technologies for communications and life sciences, today announced an agreement to acquire Objective Systems Integrators Inc. (OSI) (Nasdaq:OSII - news), a leading provider of next-generation operations-support-system (OSS) software for communications service providers. A wholly owned subsidiary of Agilent will commence a tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of OSI for US $17.75 per share in cash. OSI, a public company headquartered in Folsom, Calif., with more than 400 employees worldwide and an installed base of over 120 customers, designs, develops and markets OSS software that integrates and manages the provision of communications services in today's large-scale, multi-vendor network environments.

"OSI is a great fit with Agilent's strategy and clearly positions us as the leading provider of OSS solutions for current and next-generation communications service providers," said Ned Barnholt, president and CEO of Agilent. "We will be acquiring an innovative, profitable and fast-growing company that will strengthen our ability to help communications service providers meet their biggest challenge: to bring new services to market quickly and provide a revenue stream to leverage their huge network investments. We believe OSI will help us provide compelling quality-of-service solutions as providers rapidly deploy new communications technologies and services."

http://www.agilent.com