PALO ALTO, Calif., July 1 -- Varian, Inc. has signed a reseller agreement with Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII) of Japan. Under the three-year contract, valued at a minimum of $2 million per year in sales, SII will resell Varian's Vista line of simultaneous inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) instruments in Japan. ICP-AES is an optical technique used to measure the concentrations of a wide range of chemical elements in a variety of samples. Major applications include life science and clinical studies, environmental monitoring, geo-chemical exploration, industrial quality assurance, and metallurgical analysis. Our partnership with SII is of tremendous mutual benefit, asserted Greg Davis, vice president and general manager of Varian's Optical Spectroscopy Instruments business. Seiko can now market a very competitive simultaneous ICP-AES instrument, and Varian, Inc. gains access to SII's unparalleled distribution and support channels in Japan.