BRCM--PRESS RELEASE:Broadcom Offers 8-Port Switch-On-A-Chip
04/25/2000
Dow Jones News Services
(Copyright ¸ 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
( BW)(CA-BROADCOM)(BRCM) Broadcom Delivers Second-Generation Gigabit Ethernet Transceiver
Business Editors, High-Tech Writers
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 2000--
Demonstrates Error-Free Performance over 140 Meters
of Category-5 Cable; Lower Power and Higher
Integration Enable High Port-Count Switches
Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq:BRCM), the leading developer of integrated circuits enabling broadband communications to and throughout the home and business, today announced that it is sampling a second-generation Gigabit Ethernet transceiver chip for the existing Category-5 cabling infrastructure found in the vast majority of today's networks.
This second-generation chip follows Broadcom's field-proven and tested BCM5400 Gigabit transceiver chip, whose introduction last year marked a significant milestone in the networking industry, enabling manufacturers for the first time to transmit data at Gigabit speeds over the existing Category-5 copper wiring. The BCM5400 is still the only Gigabit copper transceiver in production today, with more than a dozen announced networking customers in production.
The Broadcom(R) BCM5401 Gigabit Ethernet transceiver incorporates all three Ethernet speeds -- 10, 100, and 1000 Megabits per second (Mbps) -- into a single-chip solution with standard-based auto-negotiation to assure compatibility with all existing Ethernet networks. Using a field-proven DSP architecture in combination with full-custom circuit design techniques, the BCM5401 simultaneously transmits and receives data at 1 billion bits per second using standard .22 micron CMOS process technology. The result is error-free performance that substantially exceeds the IEEE 802.3ab standard. The BCM5401 is also the lowest power and most cost-effective Gigabit copper transceiver today, requiring no special provision for cooling, such as heat sinks or forced airflow.
Since Broadcom first introduced the BCM5400 as the world's first Gigabit copper transceiver in May 1999, the BCM5400 has completed nearly an entire year of extensive system and device-level testing in real-world and "worse-case" cable plants by hundreds of engineers in dozens of test sites worldwide. The BCM5401 leverages the same advanced DSP architecture field-proven in the BCM5400 and comes in the same package. The two devices are also register and software compatible, thereby offering system designers an easy migration path to the newest technology.
"This second-generation transceiver demonstrates our continued commitment to setting the performance and integration standard for Gigabit Ethernet over copper," said Marty Colombatto, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Networking Business Unit. "Our customers can take immediate advantage of increased integration, lower power and lower cost by building higher port-count boxes and boards while still preserving their investment in software and diagnostics."
The BCM5401 is a single-chip GMII (Gigabit Media Independent Interface) or TBI (Ten Bit Interface)-to-Magnetics solution supporting all three Ethernet speeds, 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, and 1000BASE-T, with standard-based auto negotiation. Broadcom's recently announced Integrated Cable Management software is also available with the BCM5401. This software runs advanced DSP algorithms on the transceiver to enable remote cable-plant diagnostics, management and testing, without the need to deploy field technicians to the customer site. In addition to determining cable length and enabling cable fault detection isolation, the Integrated Cable Management feature detects and corrects most common cabling installation errors, such as pair-swaps, pair-polarity reversal, pair skew, and cable crossover.
Broadcom also announced today the industry's first single chip 8-Port Gigabit Switch (the BCM5680 G-Switch (TM)) which, when combined with the BCM5401, allows networking system manufacturers for the first time to break the $200 per port price target for Gigabit Ethernet switches. Competitive solutions today are estimated at three times the price of Broadcom's solution.
(MORE) DOW JONES NEWS 04-25-00
10:54 AM
PRESS RELEASE:Broadcom Switch-On-A-Chip (Take 2)
BCM5401 Product Features
The BCM5401 integrates IEEE 802.3ab 1000BASE-T physical layer (PHY), IEEE 802.3u 100BASE-TX PHY and IEEE 802.3 10BASE-T PHY transceivers into a single monolithic CMOS chip. It is capable of auto-negotiating to the highest possible speed. An industry-standard 10-bit interface (TBI) enables the device to interface with any ASIC already designed for Gigabit Ethernet over fiber optic cables without any additional changes. In addition, the BCM5401 is fully compliant with the IEEE 802.3z Gigabit Media Independent Interface (GMII) standard for Gigabit Ethernet, providing compatibility with all industry-standard Ethernet Media Access Controllers (MACs) and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs).
Broadcom's BCM5401 makes network equipment significantly simpler to install by automatically detecting and correcting the most common wiring problems, such as swapped pairs, pair skew, reversed polarity and MDI crossover. The chip also includes a host of advanced features, which increase its ability to operate efficiently over longer cable lengths. These features include digital adaptive equalizers, high-speed/high precision analog-to-digital converters, a very low jitter phase lock loop, precision line drivers, forward error correction circuitry, echo cancellers, cross-talk cancellers, baseline wander correction for "killer packet" protection, and other support circuitry to enable robust and reliable communication at Gigabit speeds over existing Category 5 cabling.
The advanced digital signal processing (DSP) core incorporated into the BCM5401 contains a highly accurate cable tester. This feature enables network managers to test the cable during installation to detect and test cable length, quality, and potential bit-error rate (BER), as well as to diagnose possible wiring problems and cable faults.
Pricing and Availability
The BCM5401 is packaged in a 256-pin TBGA. Sample quantities of the BCM5401 are available today priced at $59 each.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is the leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband digital transmission of voice, video and data 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 a number of the most significant broadband communications markets, including the markets for cable set-top boxes, cable modems, high-speed office networks, home networking, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), residential broadband gateways, 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," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will" and variations of these words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are 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 BCM5400 and BCM5401 products include, but are not limited to, the timing and successful completion of technology and product development through volume production; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's technologies and products in the markets for high-speed office networking; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in the foregoing markets; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders; the loss of a key customer; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; silicon wafer pricing and the availability of foundry and assembly capacity and raw materials; the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims; our ability to specify, develop, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a timely manner; the effects of new and emerging technologies; the effectiveness of our product cost reduction efforts; fluctuations in our manufacturing yields and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products; the risks of producing products with new suppliers and at new fabrication and assembly facilities; 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 our 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; changes in our product or customer mix; the quality of our products and any remediation costs; the effects of natural disasters and other events beyond our control; the level of orders received that can be shipped in a fiscal quarter; 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, forthcoming Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, 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.
Broadcom(R), G-Switch(TM) and the pulse logo are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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CONTACT: Broadcom Public Relations Contacts
Trade Press --
Laura Brandlin, 949/450-8700
lbrandlin@broadcom.com
or
Business Press --
Bill Blanning or Eileen Algaze, 949/450-8700
blanning@broadcom.com
ealgaze@broadcom.com
or
Broadcom Technical Contact
Dave Sorensen, Product Line Manager for Gigabit Ethernet
949/450-8700 |
