PRINCE Mohammad Bin Khalid Bin Abdullah Al Faisal, the President and the Chief Executive Officer of Al Faisaliah Group, recently inaugurated an Optical Technologies and Optical Fiber Communication Research Laboratory at the headquarters of Prince Sultan Advanced Technologies Research Institute (PSATRI), King Saud University. Dr. Sami Bin Mohammed Al-Humaidi, the Executive Director of the Institute, Benoit Neel, Agilent Vice President and General Manager of field operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa , Sigi Gross — Vice President and General Manager, Electronic Test Division at Agilent Technologies and a number of the officials from King Saud University and the faculty also attended the opening. PSATRI is supported by the National Program for Technology Innovation Centers (TIC), which is affiliated with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). The laboratory was developed by Modern Media Systems (an Al-Faisaliah Group company and an exclusive Agilent partner), by supplying and installing a wide range of Agilent's most advanced test equipment, and with technical assistance and software donations from Agilent technologies. Prince Mohammad Bin Khalid stated that he is pleased to see the contribution made by PSATRI in serving the country's economy and by contributing to the vision of the King for a knowledge-based economy in the Kingdom. He also lauded the institute's efforts in research and development for the country's defense sector. He added that the research laboratories for optical technologies and optical fiber communications will be an asset for the development of communications technologies in the country. It's worth mentioning that PSATRI aims at creating an environment conducive to research and development using the latest scientific methods that stand on an equal footing with the methods used internationally. Prince Mohammed also referred to scientific cooperation between Agilent Technologies Inc. and Prince Sultan Advanced Technologies Research Institute, as a giant step forward. Dr. Sami bin Mohammed Al-Humaidi shed light on the activities of PSATRI, which include providing modern technologies that will help in transferring and localizing technology; bridging the gap between Industry and academia; providing technical solutions and consultancy services for the national defense programs. Dr. Al-Humaidi also expressed his deep gratitude to Prince Mohammad Bin Khalid for attending the event and thanked the guests from Agilent technologies and appreciated the efforts made by Agilent in supporting PSATRI, by its donations and the joint research collaborations. Gross said that Agilent is honored and proud to contribute to the development of the Optical Technologies Research Laboratory at PSATRI. He mentioned that this will further strengthen the relationship with PSATRI and King Saud University, and encourage efforts in further building the Agilent-PSATRI joint research programs, which are already successfully ongoing. He expressed his hope that the researchers and students at PSATRI will benefit from this technologically advanced lab, the first of its kind in the region. At the end of the ceremony, Prince Mohammad, Benoit Neel and Dr. Sami Al Humaidi exchanged commemorative shields, to mark the occasion.— SG
