Broadcom's ''Switch-on-a-Chip'' Now Shipping to Leading Equipment Manufacturers
March 15, 1999 08:44 AM
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 1999--
Fast Ethernet Switches at Below $40 Per Port Will Accelerate the Transition to All-Switched Networks
Broadcom Corporation BRCM , a leading developer of integrated circuits enabling broadband communications to the home and business, today announced that its fully integrated 9-port 10/100BASE-T Ethernet "switch-on-a-chip" is currently shipping in volume to nearly all of the leading networking vendors.
Targeted at the price-competitive, local area network (LAN) switch market, the highly integrated Broadcom(R) BCM5308, announced in October 1998, is substantially reducing the design complexities, time-to-market and cost barriers typically associated with Fast Ethernet switch development.
"Our solution represents the highest level of integration of any Fast Ethernet switch or repeater chip in the world," said Marty Colombatto, Vice President & General Manager of Broadcom's Networking Business Unit. "This chip is enabling our customers to quickly develop and introduce a new generation of high performance Fast Ethernet switches at price points that compete head-on with repeaters."
In January, Broadcom customer NETGEAR, a leading developer of small office networking products, announced two Fast Ethernet switches for the small office/home office market that use the BCM5308 9-port switch chip. The NETGEAR FS308 and FS108 are the first eight-port 10/100 Ethernet switches on the market with a street price below $40 per port. A similar 10/100 switch nine months ago was approximately $120 per port. Broadcom expects its other customers to introduce similarly priced products using its "switch-on-a-chip" later this quarter.
"Broadcom's integrated solution has enabled us to quickly bring a much more economical 10/100 switch solution to the SOHO market," said Patrick Lo, NETGEAR's Vice President and General Manager. "Earlier implementations were very costly and required a lot more power and space, making them impractical for small to mid-size office environments. With Broadcom's scalable switch chip, we are now able to design a complete line of 10/100 switches with the size and cost attributes previously possible only with repeaters."
Esmeralda Silva, Senior Analyst for International Data Corporation (IDC), said, "Through silicon integration, Broadcom is helping to drive down the cost of 10/100 switching for the SOHO and small- to medium-size business markets. We anticipate that these cost reductions will eventually eclipse repeaters in the low-end, cost-sensitive LAN markets."
The BCM5308 combines all of the functions of a full wire-speed, non-blocking Fast Ethernet switch into a single-chip solution. Networking equipment designers using the BCM5308 need only add external low-cost SSRAM to build a complete switching system supporting up to 24 ports (16 ports non-blocking), making it an ideal solution for the SOHO and small- to mid-size business environments where cost, ease-of-use and flexibility are of utmost importance. The component count for a 24-port 10/100 switch based on the BCM5308 is reduced from nine chips to three chips, reducing the bill of materials to below $13 per port. Decreasing the number of chips in the design also reduces the power requirements, physical dimensions and design complexity of the system.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a leading developer of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband digital data transmission to the home and within the business enterprise. Using proprietary technologies and advanced design methodologies, the Company has designed and developed integrated circuits for some of the most significant broadband communications markets, including the markets for cable set-top boxes, cable modems, high-speed networking products, 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 broadcom.com.
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