Indicating that in 1989 she had started working as a sales engineer at a company which at that time was called Hewlett Packard which had recently opened its office in Turkey, Spark Group Chairperson of the Board of Directors Asl?han Yarkut said: “For a long period we tried to meet the after sale maintenance, repair and calibration services of equipment and systems that we sold to the extent Turkey’s technical infrastructure made it possible. However, as a result of the rapidly developing and expanding electronic industry in Turkey, unfortunately our country fell behind in meeting these technical infrastructure services. This situation made us and our customers dependent on overseas services in this area. What this means is simply that the high maintenance and calibration costs paid overseas, the long idle time stemming from the equipment going overseas and back, and just as important as this and related to it, is our national wealth of numerous testing equipment being out of use…”

As a result of providing services under the same brand for approximately 30 years and as a “market leader” it was only natural that a very large pool of equipment would take place in the Turkish market, Yarkut said and went on to add: “The basic priority of Spark Group of Companies with all of its employees has always been to provide the best service to its customers and to make a difference in the industry by the daily expansion of the services it offers. With the positive motivations provided by our Undersecretariat for Defence Industries and our valued customers and with the large support always given by Agilent Technologies, we are proud of having gained the services provided in the maintenance, repair and calibration of various testing and measurement devices of up to 50 GHz. With the Maintenance, Repair and Calibration Laboratory that Spark’s provides, our customers will no longer be dependent on overseas services. Additionally, the capital spent for these services will remain here and with easily accessible, low cost and time saving services a contribution will be made to the quality of the products produced in Turkey and various idle equipment will again be reusable. In this way, our country will have a laboratory with a very large technological infrastructure and with a technical staff that can use this technology will be a first in the region.”

Indicating that they have kept their loyalty to the Turkish economy as Spark and Agilent Technologies for many years, Benoit Neel, Agilent VP and General Manager, Electronic Measurements Group EMEA Field Operations stated that: “Among our priorities we have always targeted contributing to Turkey. The investments undertaken by strong companies undoubtedly provide large contributions in technology, engineering and innovation. Technology, science and measurement are the basic elements in a knowledge-based society. We are very proud to have always offered the necessary methods and vehicles to provide support to Turkey on this subject. Offering calibration and repair services in Turkey is the basic reason why we have gathered here today. Spark and Agilent with the upmost and latest technology are offering a fully equipped Spark Calibration Laboratory services to you as of today.”

Since the beginning of the 1980s until now, in order to meet the electronic testing and measurement needs of the electronic industry in Turkey, Agilent Technologies as the leading brand in the world in this area is being represented in Turkey under various structures. In 1999, the Electronic Measurement Group and the Bio-Analytic Measurement Group separated from the Hewlett Packard organization and began its existence in the world and in Turkey as Agilent Technologies. This structure changed in 2001. During that year, the Spark Measurement Technologies Ltd. Company and Spark Calibration Services Ltd. Company as Turkish companies are continuing their activities as the sole authorized distributors in Turkey in “Testing and Measurement of Equipment and System Sales and After Sales” under Agilent Technologies. With sales of 5.5 billion USD in 2010, Agilent Technologies together with its 18,500 employees and possessing 70 years of know-how in technical innovations and inventions continues its operations with its customer portfolio located in over 100 countries.