The former Microelectronics Group of Lucent Technologies has chosen Agere Systems as its new name.

Pronounced a-GEAR, the name sprang from the Latin verb meaning "to lead, to drive, to act."

Lucent announced last summer that it planned to spin off the group into a separate company. It is planning an initial public offering of up to 20 percent of the new company by the end of March.

The company will have two divisions, Integrated Circuits (products for wireless, access and networking applications) and Optoelectronics (photonic components for communications networks).

John Dickson is the president and CEO-designate for Agere.