Broadcom First to Receive CableLabs Certification for Silicon Tuner
January 04, 2001 08:00:00 AM ET
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 4, 2001-- Production-Ready, DOCSIS Certified, All-CMOS Tuner Offers Reduced Board Area,
Better Manufacturability, Improved Performance and Lower Cost Versus Traditional Can Tuners
Broadcom Corporation BRCM, the leading provider of integrated circuits enabling broadband communications, today announced that its
BCM3415 chip became the world's first silicon tuner to pass the CableLabs(TM) certification process, a significant milestone in
dramatically improving the component count, cost and reliability of the tuner function in cable modems. The Broadcom(R) BCM3415
silicon tuner and BCM3350 single-chip cable modem passed certification in an Ambit Microsystems PCI cable modem.
Priced below $4.00 in high volume, the BCM3415 silicon tuner is yet another example of Broadcom's cable modem industry leadership in
technology and integration. The BCM3415 supports both 64 and 256 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation), and also supports an
intermediate frequency (IF) output range of 36-44 MHz, sufficient for both the North American NTSC and European PAL standards. This
highly integrated CMOS tuner chip replaces up to 200 discrete components traditionally housed in a bulky tuner can.
"The BCM3415 is a remarkable technical accomplishment," said K.C. Murphy, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's RF
and Advanced Mixed Signal Business Unit. "Not only is Broadcom's tuner the first silicon tuner to win DOCSIS certification, we've done it
in standard logic CMOS. CMOS technology is important because it allows ample availability, an aggressive cost structure and a path for
integration with other products."
Broadcom's silicon tuner provides several advantages over traditional can tuners. First, the printed circuit board (PCB) footprint for a
silicon tuner can be as much as 50% smaller than an equivalent can tuner, further reducing system cost. Second, the BCM3415, unlike
can tuners, requires no time and labor-intensive hand "tweaking" in the manufacturing process. Current can tuners are fine-tuned by
production workers using "toothpicks" to bend the inductor coils inside of the can. And third, the non-uniformity of channel reception in
analog televisions has been a result of the difficulty in the manufacture of can tuners that can achieve the same performance level over
every single channel. Silicon tuners inherently solve this problem by eliminating any trimming or calibration in the manufacturing process.
"Having Ambit's internal PCI cable modem achieve CableLabs certification using our silicon tuner is a noteworthy accomplishment," said
Tim Lindenfelser, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Broadband Communications Business Unit. "The inside of a PC
is one of the harshest environments in which any RF device can operate. The CableLabs-Certified(TM) seal sends a strong message to
manufacturers that our CMOS tuner meets the reliability and quality standards we have all come to expect in cable modems. We can now
offer our customers a production-ready, entirely CMOS, cable modem silicon platform that meets the rigorous certification process set
forth by CableLabs, with the future ability to integrate this platform into a single-chip cable modem solution."
"The small footprint of Broadcom's CMOS tuner will reduce the size of our cable modem," said Sam Sun, Director of Engineering at
Ambit Microsystems Corporation. "Also, the uniform power gain of the BCM3415 over the RF cable frequency spectrum reduces the
complexity of production, since cable modems based on traditional can tuners must be calibrated during production to guarantee the
correct input power level. Being the first to complete the CableLabs certification process with Broadcom's breakthrough tuner technology
is a significant step for the cable industry and demonstrates Ambit's commitment to adopting advanced cable modem solutions that result
in the best possible price/performance for our customers."
Offering the broadest range of silicon technology for cable modems, Broadcom's chips have successfully completed the CableLabs
certification process in over 100 customer cable modem designs. Additionally, Broadcom has shipped 13 million cable modem chips to
customers whose products have received the CableLabs-Certified seal. The CableLabs-Certified seal gives consumers and cable
operators the assurance that certified cable modems comply with CableLabs standards and will be interoperable with the products of
multiple cable-modem vendors.
The BCM3415 was specifically designed to complement Broadcom's highly integrated BCM3350, which is a single-chip cable modem
solution that has been certified in PCI, Ethernet and Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable modem products. As a pair, the BCM3415 and
BCM3350 provide customers with a complete turnkey cable modem solution.
The BCM3415 CMOS tuner is available today in production quantities and is priced below $4.00 in high-volume quantities.
About Ambit Microsystems
Ambit Microsystems Corporation is an established OEM/ODM supplier providing intelligent power and connectivity solutions to the
computer and communication industries. Ambit's goal is to provide our customers with the best price/performance optimized products by
utilizing our R&D expertise, manufacturing capability, local material infrastructure, as well as global logistic support. Related to product
research and development, Ambit provides high quality, reliable voice/data modem module, ADSL, cable modem, wireless networking,
and Bluetooth solution products, which have won honor and trust from OEM/ODM customers worldwide.
Ambit Microsystems Corporation has R&D facilities in the USA and Taiwan, and two major manufacturing plants in HsinChu and Taipei,
Taiwan, and one in ZhongShan City, GuangDong Province, China. With more than 470,000 sq. ft of manufacturing capacity and over
1,800 employees, Ambit is expected to reach revenue of US$400 million in year 2000.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is the leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband digital transmission of voice,
video, and data. 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 local, metropolitan and wide area networks, home networking, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP),
carrier access, residential broadband gateways, direct broadcast satellite and terrestrial digital broadcast, optical networking, digital
subscriber lines (xDSL) and wireless communications. 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,"
"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 BCM3415 and BCM3350 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 digital and analog
RF tuner and cable modem products; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in the foregoing markets; general
economic conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address; 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; fluctuations in the manufacturing yields of our third party semiconductor foundries and other problems or delays in the fabrication,
assembly, testing or delivery of our products; our ability to specify, develop or acquire, 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; 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; and other
factors.
Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Forms 8-K and 8-K/A, 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) and the pulse logo are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other
countries. CableLabs(TM) and CableLabs-Certified(TM) are trademarks of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. All other trademarks
mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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