PR releases

Broadcom releases IP phone chip, and also, breaks Ethernet speed record

Two releases from chip maker Broadcom: one wireless, one wired

1.       Broadcom announces the new StrataXGS® III switch architecture featuring the world’s fastest, highest performing family of fully integrated Ethernet switch chips.  They are the first to incorporate ubiquitous security, wire-speed IPv6 routing and wireless LAN support.  It features an advanced multi-layer 72 Gigabit per second (Gbps) full-duplex packet processing architecture.

2.       Broadcom announces the industry’s first Internet Protocol (IP) phone chip that incorporates Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switching, end-to-end security, advanced quality of service (QoS) techniques and increased processing performance in a single-chip design.  This highly integrated IP phone chip features new Ethernet switching capabilities that enable deployed IP phones to achieve maximum throughput over GbE networks.

FULL NEWS RELEASES

Broadcom Announces StrataXGS® III – The World’s First Integrated Ethernet Switch Solutions Featuring Embedded Security, IPv6 Routing and Wireless LAN Support

First Multi-Layer Switch with 24 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) Ports and Four 10GbE Ports Fueled by the Industry’s Fastest 72 Gbps Packet Processing Architecture

IRVINE, Calif. – January 24, 2005 – Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor solutions enabling broadband communications, today announced its new StrataXGS® III switch architecture featuring the world’s fastest, highest performing family of fully integrated Ethernet switch chips.  Evolving from four prior generations of Broadcom® Ethernet switch technology, the new StrataXGS III switches are the first to incorporate ubiquitous security, wire-speed IPv6 routing and wireless LAN support.  The new StrataXGS III switch architecture features an advanced multi-layer 72 Gigabit per second (Gbps) full-duplex packet processing architecture.  These next-generation capabilities are only available in StrataXGS III switches.

Information Technology (IT) professionals are often required to minimize capital expenditures and reduce operating costs of network infrastructures.  To achieve these objectives, IT professionals need to simplify the management of desktop PCs, VoIP phones, wireless LAN access points and security appliances.  The deployment of new applications, as well as the convergence of voice, video and data, has intensified the need for reliable, secure, high performance networks.  Ethernet switching is the most pervasive solution to achieve this convergence due to its wide use and cost-effectiveness.  The StrataXGS III Ethernet switch chips further accelerate this convergence through their superior performance and enhanced security features, delivering the reliability demanded by enterprise and carrier environments.

Announced today is the first StrataXGS III product family, the 500 Series.  Designed for feature-rich, high performance Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and 10GbE switch applications, the 500 Series includes five new chips, the BCM56500, BCM56501, BCM56502, BCM56503 and BCM56504, each targeting different port and functionality requirements.  The flagship product, the BCM56504, is the only switch in the industry to incorporate 24 GbE ports and four 10GbE ports in a single-chip device.  This specific configuration is required by network integrators to support concurrent stacking and redundant 10GbE uplinks.  Each GbE port can operate at 10/100/1000 Megabits per second (Mbps) while each 10GbE port can operate in either 10GbE mode or stacking mode.  Additionally, the BCM56504 is based on a 72 Gbps packet processor that is capable of processing over 100 million packets per second, which is unrivaled for integrated multi-layer switches.

“With StrataXGS III, we are delivering an exciting new generation of switching silicon that enables reliable and secure communication of voice, video and data traffic on a single high-performance network,” said Martin Lund, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s Enterprise Switch Line of Business.  “Building on the success formula of the previous generations of StrataSwitch® and StrataXGS, StrataXGS III features an impressive collection of unique technologies that will power the world’s most advanced enterprise and carrier networks over the next several years.”

Focus on Robust Security, Resiliency and Converged Unified Networking

With the increasing rate of targeted attacks on public and corporate networks, Broadcom has responded to the need for resilient secure networking by integrating a wealth of unique security-based intelligence into all StrataXGS III products.  Broadcom’s exclusive wire-speed Layer 2 to Layer 7 application-aware security technology is designed to enforce secure policies based on a flexible variety of programmable rules.  Also featured is integrated Denial of Service attack prevention technology that provides continuity of service to users in case of an attack.  To complete the security features within all StrataXGS III products, advanced cryptographic technology is integrated that meets the stringent requirements defined by the U.S. Government’s FIPS 140-2 standard.

Building upon next-generation security features, the StrataXGS III architecture enables seamless integration of a unified wireless and wired infrastructure.  In the past, WLAN adoption has been limited due to the cost and complexity of deploying expensive appliances and managing a separate WLAN network.  The StrataXGS III architecture solves these problems by integrating secure WLAN services and fast roaming technology, eliminating the need for costly appliances.  As a result, IT professionals can now deploy cost-effective and easy to manage WLAN services, such as new VoIP wireless phones, on a single unified network.

As the Internet continues to experience incredible growth, it is expected that there will be a shortage of IPv4 addresses in the future, prompting a new protocol solution called IPv6 that provides virtually unlimited address space.  In support of this trend, the StrataXGS III architecture is ahead of this transition by fully integrating both IPv4 and IPv6 routing capabilities.  This cost-effective implementation will enable the easy migration to IPv6 in corporate and service provider networks.  In addition, intelligent IP multicast technology is also featured within StrataXGS III switches, enabling service providers to offer new triple play capabilities (voice, video and data) and video broadcasting services.

To reduce system development costs and accelerate time to market, Broadcom provides a comprehensive application programming interface (API) that maintains software compatibility with previous generations of Broadcom switches.  In addition to providing a common API, Broadcom provides reference designs for the StrataXGS III product series including software, schematics, layout files and related documentation. 

StrataXGS III Summary

The StrataXGS III family of switch chips is ideal for standalone, stackable and chassis switch configurations supporting enterprise, service provider and grid computing markets.  In addition, these devices are well-suited for use in embedded applications such as blade servers, IP DSLAM (Internet protocol digital subscriber line access multiplexers), PON (passive optical networking), and AdvancedTCA® (Advanced telecom computing architecture), providing reliable local, backplane and inter-shelf switching.

Pricing and Availability

The 500 Series of StrataXGS III Ethernet switches (BCM56500, BCM56501, BCM56502, BCM56503 and BCM56504) are currently sampling to Broadcom’s early access customers.  Pricing is available upon request.

Broadcom Announces World’s First Gigabit Ethernet IP Phone Chip

New Chip Eliminates Network Bottlenecks and Integrates Critical Features Required for Next-Generation Internet Protocol (IP) Phones, Including an Advanced Hardware

Security Module for Encrypting Voice Calls

IRVINE, Calif. – January 24, 2005 – Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor solutions enabling broadband communications, today announced the industry’s first Internet Protocol (IP) phone chip that incorporates Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switching, end-to-end security, advanced quality of service (QoS) techniques and increased processing performance in a single-chip design.  This highly integrated IP phone chip features new Ethernet switching capabilities that enable deployed IP phones to achieve maximum throughput over GbE networks.  Gigabit Ethernet technology is now becoming widely deployed in enterprise networks to support the increased bandwidth requirements of converged voice, video and data communications.  The new Broadcom® Gigabit Ethernet IP phone chip is the successor to the company’s field-proven Fast Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) IP phone chip, which has been widely deployed in enterprise IP-PBX systems from leading equipment vendors worldwide.

“The deployment of Gigabit Ethernet connections within most enterprise PC shipments has rapidly occurred over the past year due to the demands for increased bandwidth to support voice, data and video services,” said Sean Lavey, a program manager with IDC's semiconductor research.  “IDC forecasts IP phone shipments will grow at a 42% compounded annual growth rate for the 2004-2008 time period as more businesses install these feature-rich and more cost-effective VoIP systems.  With IP phone adoption also on the rise, Gigabit Ethernet capability inside these new designs will also become a requirement to ensure that this faster speed will be readily available to the end user.”

As networks migrate to Gigabit Ethernet, it will become essential for IP phones to operate at the same speed. This capability is especially critical in office environments where the IP phone resides between the network connection and the PC, and its integrated Ethernet switch (two ports) supports both voice calls through the phone and data traffic to the PC using one Ethernet connection to each office.  In this network configuration, the integrated switch in the IP phone dictates the speed of the network.  If the network is operating at Gigabit Ethernet speeds, it becomes critical for the phone to also support the GbE rate to prevent a bottleneck between the local area network (LAN) and the PC.

“The integration of Gigabit Ethernet capability into next-generation IP phones is a natural progression in the evolution of Voice over IP within the enterprise,” said Paul Shore, Director of Marketing for Broadcom’s VoIP Client Devices.  “In addition to bridging the gap between Gigabit Ethernet networks and IP phones, our new chip integrates a number of new features that will help to further accelerate the adoption of VoIP in the enterprise.”

Product Information

The Broadcom BCM1103 IP phone chip enables manufacturers to build IP phones with integrated Gigabit Ethernet switching and other essential features to support improved voice quality, guaranteed voice security and graphics-driven applications that demand more processing power.  The chip integrates a Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 Mbps) switch and two Fast Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) transceivers, allowing for the development of traditional Fast Ethernet IP phone designs without the additional cost of adding external transceivers.  With the addition of external Gigabit Ethernet transceivers, manufacturers can easily upgrade their designs to create Gigabit Ethernet IP phone models.

Broadcom’s IP phone chip is the company’s first to include Broadcom’s BroadSAFE™ security technology, which enables the secure transmission of voice packets without burdening the phone’s RISC CPU.  The BCM1103’s hardware security module performs voice encryption and authentication and elevates the phone’s system security using a unique identifier embedded in each chip that is virtually impossible to decode, hack, or steal, thereby providing assurance that the identity of each phone in the network is genuine.  These advanced security features allow IT managers to ensure the integrity of corporate voice communications.

The chip's high-performance RISC processor and DSP support Broadcom's field-proven PhonexChange™ IP telephony software suite.  PhonexChange is used across all of Broadcom's IP phone solutions, allowing BCM1101 IP phone customers to leverage their existing software development investments, therefore, minimizing time to market and development risks when designing in the BCM1103.  The PhonexChange suite supports a wide variety of narrowband and wideband voice coders, including Broadcom’s high-fidelity BroadVoice® coder, a high quality full-duplex speakerphone algorithm, advanced jitter buffer management and packet loss concealment techniques, and a complete library of standard telephony algorithms required for IP phone designs.  The RISC processor in the BCM1103 further allows customers to add product-differentiating software to support applications such as web browsing, graphics rendering, instant messaging and presence features.

The chip further integrates a variety of IP phone peripherals including wideband-capable analog codecs (coder/decoder) with integrated amplifiers and provides flexible interfaces for external peripherals and memory types.  This high level of integration reduces the phone’s bill of material (BOM) costs and enables phone vendors to build scalable IP phone solutions using a single architecture.

To help BCM1103 customers bring products to market more quickly, Broadcom has developed the BCM911103SP IP phone reference design platform.  This platform includes a complete Gigabit Ethernet IP phone reference design board that allows developers to utilize all of the features of the BCM1103.  The reference board includes a housing that features a large graphics display and comes with Broadcom’s PhonexChange firmware and example application code.

Pricing and Availability

The BCM1103 chip and BCM91103SP reference design are sampling today.  The chip comes in a 420-pin PBGA lead-free package and is priced at $25 in 10K quantities. 

Broadcom’s Leadership Position in Voice IP Silicon Solutions

Broadcom’s IP phone chips are the most advanced solutions in the industry, offering a range of both high-end, mid-range, and basic voice and data capabilities.  These chips, coupled with Broadcom’s proven Ethernet networking and VoIP gateway technologies, are enabling manufacturers to deliver economical solutions for migrating businesses to complete IP telephony systems.  Broadcom’s VoIP solutions are shipping in volume production today to leading manufacturers worldwide for deployment in enterprise IP phones, residential terminal adapters, voice-enabled cable and DSL residential gateways worldwide and Wi-Fi phones. 

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor solutions that enable broadband communications and networking of voice, video and data services. We design, develop and supply complete system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions incorporating digital, analog, radio frequency (RF), microprocessor and digital signal processing (DSP) technologies, as well as related hardware and software system-level applications.  Our diverse product portfolio addresses every major broadband communications market, and includes solutions for digital cable and satellite set-top boxes; high definition television (HDTV); cable and digital subscriber line (DSL) modems and residential gateways; high-speed transmission and switching for local, metropolitan, wide area and storage networking; home and wireless networking; cellular and terrestrial wireless communications; Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateway and telephony systems; broadband network and security processors; and SystemI/OÔ server solutions.  These technologies and products support our core mission:  Connecting everythingÒ.

Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and may be contacted at 1-949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com