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Agilent Technologies, Inc.

A maker of laboratory instruments, consumables, and services, Agilent helps scientists analyze the chemistry of drugs, food, water, and materials—with brands like Seahorse cell analyzers and OpenLab software used by pharma, clinical labs, and researchers. It began in 1999 when Hewlett-Packard spun off its measurement and chemical-analysis businesses into a new company. The name comes from "agile," meant to signal speed and talent—but HP kept it so secret it never bought Agilent.com before launch.