Abstract. This paper describes the essential spectrum and index function of the operator X -» AXB, where A, B, and X are Hubert space operators. Analogous results are given for the restriction of this operator to a norm ideal and partial analogues are given for sums of such operators and for the case when the operators act on a Banach space.1. Introduction. The purpose of this note is to describe the Fredholm essential spectrum and index function for a class of operators of the form X -» AXB, where A, B, and X are Hilbert space operators. We also describe the essential spectra and index functions of the restrictions of these operators to norm ideals. These results thus complement the spectral analysis of multiplications initiated by Lumer and Rosenblum [20].Let % denote a separable, infinite-dimensional, complex Hilbert space and let £,(%) denote the algebra of all bounded linear operators on %. For operators A and B in £(%), let S = S (A, B) and <3" = <5(A, B) denote the operators on &(%)