September 13, 1999 08:20
Broadcom Launches Next-Generation Fast Ethernet Transceiver
Family
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 13, 1999--
New Transceiver Core Establishes the World's Lowest Power Solution and Sets a New
Price/Performance Standard for 10/100 Ethernet Transceivers
Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq:BRCM), a leading provider of integrated circuits enabling broadband
communications to and throughout the home and business, today announced it is sampling the
first member of its new, 0.25-micron Digi-PHY(tm) transceiver family -- a 6-port Fast Ethernet
transceiver.
The Broadcom(R) BCM5226 Hex-PHY(tm) 10/100BASE-TX/FX Transceiver establishes multiple
important industry milestones, which include:
-- the world's lowest power and smallest footprint 10/100
transceiver solution
-- the world's first 2.5 Volt/0.25-micron CMOS 10/100 transceiver
solution
-- the first 10/100 transceiver to automatically detect and correct
crossed cables
The new 0.25-micron chip offers increased end-user convenience, reliability, and performance, while
lowering the per port power and board space requirements for 10/100 Ethernet switches by up to
50%. This chip will enable system manufacturers to develop highly efficient 10/100 switches used
in a wide variety of applications, from backbone switches for the data center to desktop switches
for the wiring closet, within business environments.
The BCM5226 Hex-PHY(tm) is the first implementation of Broadcom's 10/100BASE-T Digi-PHY
core manufactured using an advanced 0.25-micron CMOS process. As the basis for all of
Broadcom's 10/100 transceivers, deployed in over 50 million ports to date, the Digi-PHY core is the
world's most proven Fast Ethernet physical layer solution.
"The BCM5226 establishes new levels of features, power and performance for 10/100 Ethernet
transceivers and provides manufacturers with a very cost-effective solution for next-generation
networking equipment," said Marty Colombatto, Vice President and General Manager of
Broadcom's Networking Business Unit. "The 0.25-micron Digi-PHY core enabled us to reduce the
transceiver's power dissipation to 250 milliwatts (mW) per port, which is a 50% power reduction
savings over other 10/100 Ethernet transceiver solutions. This significant power reduction is an
important advantage for any transceiver implementation, and will be particularly beneficial for higher
port density switches and battery-operated applications."
Broadcom's BCM5226 also offers increased end-user convenience. It is the first 10/100 Ethernet
transceiver to incorporate the Hewlett-Packard Auto-Media Dependent Interface Crossover
(Auto-MDI/MDIX) technology. Originally specified in the IEEE 802.3ab standard for Gigabit Ethernet
over Category 5 cable, the Auto-MDI/MDIX feature enables the transceiver to automatically detect
and correct a crossed cable. This allows system installation and maintenance personnel to use
"crossover" or "straight-through" cables interchangeably, regardless of whether the cable is
attached to another switch, NIC or repeater. This capability eliminates incorrect connections due to
cable mismatch, making it faster, easier and less expensive to install and operate Fast Ethernet
switches. Previously, if a switch was used as a replacement for a repeater, the installer was
required to either replace the cables, or re-install connectors. Any new switch with Auto-MDI/MDIX
can be dropped in as a repeater replacement, with no change to the existing cable configuration.
"Broadcom's incorporation of the Auto-MDI/MDIX feature into their new six-port 10/100 Ethernet
transceiver will bring significant advantages to HP ProCurve switch customers, and once again
demonstrates their technology leadership in high-speed networking," said John McHugh, General
Manager of Hewlett-Packard ProCurve Networking. "Just as Broadcom's Gigabit Ethernet chip for
copper is enabling HP to develop 1000BASE-T interfaces for the ProCurve family of products, the
BCM5226 will enable us to develop higher-performance, lower-cost and easier-to-use 10/100
Ethernet switches."
The BCM5226 uses the same fundamental Digi-PHY core architecture introduced in 1997 in
Broadcom's first-generation 10/100BASE-T transceivers. The Digi-PHY core is a Digital Signal
Processing (DSP) architecture that ensures robust performance and interoperability over a broad
range of operating conditions. It has been successfully ported from 0.5-micron to 0.35-micron, and
now to a 0.25-micron CMOS process, and implemented in standard transceiver products with one,
four, six and eight ports.
The Digi-PHY core is also shipping in highly integrated standard products such as Broadcom's
eight-port switch (e.g., BCM5308), as well as Customized Communication Integrated Circuits(tm)
(CCICs(tm)) for customer-specific, high-volume applications where customers wish to integrate their
own intellectual property with Broadcom's transceiver cores. The new 0.25-micron CMOS Digi-PHY
core will enable CCICs that consume substantially lower power and have much smaller silicon die
area than designs based on older 0.35-micron transceiver cores, resulting in significant savings in
silicon and package costs.
BCM5226 Technical Product Details
The BCM5226 incorporates six full-duplex 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX/FX Fast Ethernet transceivers.
Each transceiver performs all of the physical layer interface functions for 10BASE-T Ethernet on
Category 3, 4, and 5 unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable and 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet on
Category 5 UTP cable, and is compliant with the IEEE 802.3 specification. Unlike many analog
receiver designs, Broadcom's proprietary digital adaptive equalization is insensitive to normal
variations in process, temperature, voltage, and external sources of noise. The BCM5226 operates
in either half or full duplex mode, and performs the 802.3 auto-negotiation protocol.
The BCM5226 is offered in two package options. The BCM5226R, packaged in a 160 PQFP,
interfaces to switch chips via the Reduced Media Independent Interface (RMII), while the
BCM5226S, which is packaged in a 128 PQFP, supports the Serial Media Independent Interface
(SMII). Compared with today's full MII designs, both the RMII and SMII interfaces lower the overall
system cost by substantially reducing the number of pins per port and simplifying the overall board
layout and design.
The BCM5226 operates from a 2.5V power supply; the digital interface may be run at either 2.5V or
3.3V, allowing it to directly interface with any current ASIC design. In addition to UTP transmission,
each port may be individually configured to support 100BASE-FX using external fiber-optic transmit
and receive devices. The BCM5226 supports a JTAG scan chain for in-circuit testing, which lowers
the board manufacturing costs, and increases overall system quality.
Broadcom's BCM5226 Hex-PHY 10/100 Ethernet transceiver samples are priced at $24.00 and are
available now.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable
broadband digital transmission of voice, data and video content to and throughout the home and
within the business enterprise. Using proprietary technologies and advanced design methodologies,
the company designs, develops and supplies integrated circuits for some of the most significant
broadband communications markets, including the markets for cable set-top boxes, cable
modems, high-speed office networks, home networking, direct broadcast satellite and terrestrial
digital broadcast, and digital subscriber line (xDSL). Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif.,
and may be contacted at 949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com.
Safe Harbor Statement of Broadcom Corporation under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995:
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on our current expectations, estimates
and projections about our industry, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us.
Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "may," "will" and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions
that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from
those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.
Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with the BCM5226
and the Digi-PHY family of products include, but are not limited to, the timing and successful
completion of technology and product development through production readiness; the timing of
customer qualification and industry interoperability certification of new products and the risks of
non-qualification or non-certification; the rate at which our present and future customers and
end-users adopt new and emerging technologies in the high-speed networking markets; the rate of
adoption and acceptance of new industry standards in the foregoing markets; the volume of our
product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of
significant customer orders; the loss of a significant customer; the qualification, availability and
pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our
products; wafer pricing and the availability of foundry capacity and raw materials; fluctuations in our
manufacturing yields and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery
of our products; problems or delays that we may face in shifting our products to smaller geometry
process technologies and in achieving higher levels of design integration; the risks and
uncertainties associated with international operations; intellectual property disputes; our ability to
specify, develop, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and
technologies in a timely manner; our ability to retain and hire key executives, technical personnel
and other employees in the numbers, with the capabilities, and at the compensation levels needed
to implement our business and product plans; changes in our product or customer mix; the quality
of our products; potential business disruptions, claims, expenses and other difficulties resulting
from "Year 2000" problems in computer-based systems used by us, our suppliers or our
customers; general economic conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address; and
other factors.
Our recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and other
Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss some of the important risk factors that may
affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. We undertake no obligation to
revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.
Note to Editors: Broadcom(R), Digi-PHY(tm), Hex-PHY(tm), Customized Communication Integrated
Circuits(tm), CCIC(tm) and the pulse logo are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its
subsidiaries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT: Broadcom Corporation
Laura Brandlin, 949/450-8700 (Trade Press)
lbrandlin@broadcom.com
Bill Blanning, 949/450-8700 (Business Press)
blanning@broadcom.com
Kevin Brown, 949/450-8700 (Technical Contact)
kbrown@broadcom.com
Esteban Torres, 949/585-5663 (Investor Relations)
etorres@broadcom.com
BROADCOM CORPORATION IRVINE
CA - BRCM
Price
113 1/4
Net Change
+2 1/4
Volume (000)
1490
Day High
115 1/2
Day Low
109 9/16
as of
09/17/99 04:17 AM EDT
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