The actual news release:
Tuesday June 8, 8:14 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Broadcom Delivers Second-Generation VDSL Silicon
Second-Generation Chip Advances the Performance and Extends the Reach of VDSL
Technology
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 1999--Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq:BRCM - news), a leading provider of integrated circuits enabling
high-speed broadband communications to and throughout the home and business, today announced the availability of its second-generation Very-High-Speed
Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) chip, which will advance the performance and extend the reach of broadband equipment for telephony applications.
This next-generation chip reinforces Broadcom's commitment to providing local exchange carriers (LECs) and enterprise networking vendors with the highest
performance solution for delivering bundled services, such as digital video, high-speed Internet access, video teleconferencing, and IP data business services,
over existing copper telephone lines.
Compliant with both the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) draft VDSL
specifications, this chip incorporates new features that provide manufacturers with a robust solution for delivering broadband services to businesses and homes.
The new chip, called the Broadcom® BCM6020 Scalable DSL Transceiver, is a rate-adaptable solution that supports Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
(ADSL) and VDSL data rates ranging from 0 to 52 Megabits per seconds (Mbps) in either asymmetric or fully symmetric modes. The BCM6020 is
compatible with Broadcom's first-generation, field-proven BCM6010 chip, the enabling technology for 450,000 lines of VDSL service being deployed by US
West in Phoenix, Arizona.
New features incorporated into the BCM6020 include amateur radio band transmit notching, and a new receiver architecture that meets the latest VDSL
requirements for operation in the presence of radio frequency interference (RFI). The improvements enable VDSL networks to be deployed without requiring
the use of shielded or buried cable.
''This chip demonstrates Broadcom's continued commitment to delivering commercially viable, standards-compliant VDSL solutions,'' said Dr. Henry T.
Nicholas III, President and CEO of Broadcom. ''Using the BCM6020, service providers can roll out cost-effective VDSL in geographic regions where
unshielded wiring is primarily used. This is especially relevant to the European operators, providing new growth areas for VDSL outside North America.''
The BCM6020 delivers broadband service over ATM, and also supports frame-based services. The latter feature enables Ethernet traffic to be easily bridged
across telephony grade wiring for workgroup-to-workgroup LAN extensions and for use in premises where Category 5 wiring is not generally available, such
as hotels and apartments.
''We are very impressed with Broadcom's new product offering,'' said Matt Taylor, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of Tut Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:TUTS
- news), a leader in high speed Internet access systems for the multi-tenant unit market. ''The BCM6020 enables an easy upgrade path to 10 Mbps
Ethernet-grade connections in locations where rewiring with Category 5 cable is simply not an option. The 6020 allows us to overlay voice and data services on
the existing telephone wiring, in multi-tenant buildings such as hotels, apartment, commercial buildings and campus facilities, enabling the owners of these
buildings to rapidly install and derive revenue from the new broadband connections.''
''The BCM6020 employs Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and offers significantly lower cost and power dissipation than proposed VDSL
discrete-multi-tone (DMT) solutions,'' said Dr. Henry Samueli, Broadcom's Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Technical Officer. ''QAM
continues to have a significant advantage over DMT in terms of complexity and power, and the new signal processing techniques employed in the BCM6020
clearly demonstrate its capability to meet the VDSL system requirements at unmatched levels of cost and integration.''
Samueli added that unlike DMT solutions, Broadcom's 52 Mbps QAM solution has been incorporated into system providers' equipment and is readily available
to the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) for commercial deployment.
Broadcom's chip allows manufacturers to build a single-platform system capable of supporting all DSL data rates. In VDSL applications, the BCM6020
supports data rates up to 52 Mbps in Fiber-to-the-Curb networks and data rates up to 26 Mbps in Fiber-to-the-Node (FTTN) networks. The flexible bandwidth
management capability of the BCM6020 also enables VDSL services to be delivered side-by-side with ISDN or ADSL services on the same telephone line,
allowing service providers to deploy a full suite of high-speed services in their distribution plant.
In addition to the advanced features found on the BCM6010, such as Utopia Level 1 and 2 interfaces, variable rate modulation and demodulation,
Reed-Solomon Forward Error Correction, and on-chip A/D and D/A converters, the BCM6020 offers a range of new features included as a result of
Broadcom's extensive VDSL field trial as well as commercial deployment experience. These additional features include programmable transmit signal shaping,
improved RFI equalizer performance, enhanced receiver acquisition, and improved burst noise immunity. Transport-independent interfaces are also supported
for frame-based services. Power consumption of the BCM6020 is maintained at 1 Watt and the device offers additional power-down modes for added
flexibility.
The BCM6020 is currently available. It is packaged in a 100-pin PQFP and is priced at $24.50 in 100,000 piece quantities.
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 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 commercial introduction and production of the BCM6020 product include,
but are not limited to, the timing and successful completion of product development through production readiness; the rate of adoption by our present and
future customers and end-users of Broadcom's VDSL technologies and products; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in the xDSL
market; the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products; the
timing of customer qualification of our products and the risks of non-qualification; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders; the
loss of a significant customer; intellectual property disputes; fluctuations in manufacturing yields and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly,
testing or delivery of our products; risks and uncertainties associated with international operations; 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; the
quality of our products; difficulties we encounter in achieving higher levels of design integration and in migrating product designs to smaller geometry
processes; 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 and Quarterly Report 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® and the pulse logo are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its subsidiaries. |
