Broadcom Ships its 12 Millionth NetXtreme™ Gigabit Ethernet Controller

Pervasive Adoption of NetXtreme Controller Technology within Business Desktops, Notebooks, Workstations and Servers Positions Broadcom as the Leader in the GbE NIC/LOM Silicon Market

IRVINE, Calif., Oct 21, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a leading provider of silicon solutions enabling broadband communications, today announced that it has shipped 12 million NetXtreme™ Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) controller ports to leading OEM/ODM customers worldwide, demonstrating the widespread adoption of GbE technology within the enterprise and throughout the business PC market. As a pioneer of GbE integrated circuit (IC) technology, Broadcom has led the industry migration from legacy 10/100 Fast Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernet in PCs and switching solutions. Contributing to Broadcom's success, the NetXtreme GbE controllers are available within PC systems from all leading Tier 1 OEM PC manufacturers.

"Broadcom has led the transition to today's Gigabit Ethernet networks by delivering six generations of enterprise-class products that span server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms from all of the leading OEMs," said Thomas Lagatta, Group Vice President for Broadcom's Enterprise Computing Group. "As we ship our 12 millionth unit, we are seeing the return on five years of strategic investment that Broadcom has made in the NetXtreme family of Gigabit Ethernet controllers including the driver software, management software and software utilities that come with all of the controllers, and extensive testing and validation. Our commitment to invest in industry- leading performance, functionality and quality has made Broadcom the standard for enterprise connectivity."

By implementing GbE throughout the network, users are provided with an enhanced computing experience that increases network performance and productivity, and reduces CPU utilization and network congestion. Gigabit Ethernet connections can provide dramatic performance and productivity improvement over 10/100 Fast Ethernet connections running everyday business applications on client systems such as e-mail, Web browsing, databases and disk backup. Additionally, Broadcom® NetXtreme controllers outperform competitive products by a factor of two or three times for e-mail and database applications.

"The migration to Gigabit Ethernet continues to be the leading driver for certain chip vendors in the market as this technology speed has moved from servers and LAN switch aggregation segments to higher volume PCs and desktop switches," said Sean Lavey, Semiconductor Program Manager for IDC. "We expect end-users will continue to find the higher bandwidth attractive especially as it enables more advanced applications and increases overall system performance."

Broadcom's Gigabit Ethernet networking product portfolio includes switching solutions, transceivers, security processors and controllers for servers, workstations, desktops and mobile PCs, providing the industry's most comprehensive portfolio of Gigabit Ethernet solutions. Broadcom's GbE solutions are the most widely deployed and field-proven in the industry.

Product Information

Built upon six generations of field-proven Gigabit Ethernet media access controller (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) transceiver technology, the NetXtreme product family includes the BCM5700, BCM5701, BCM5702, BCM5703, BCM5704, and BCM5705/BCM5705M. Beginning with the BCM5701, NetXtreme controllers utilize a fully integrated 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet MAC designed specifically for LAN on motherboard (LOM) and network interface card (NIC) applications. The entire product family is fabricated in a low-voltage, 0.13-micron or 0.18-micron CMOS process technology that provides low power consumption to enable small form factor designs. 

     NetXtreme GbE Controller Milestones

     -- BCM5700 GbE MAC
          * First GbE controller with support for PCI-X
          * First GbE controller to ship in a LOM
          * First 10/100/1000 controller to achieve Microsoft® WHQL
            certification
          * First GbE controller to enable sub $199 NIC pricing

     -- BCM5701 GbE MAC/PHY
          * First single-chip GbE controller for servers with integrated
            MAC/PHY and PCI-X 133 support
          * First integrated GbE controller with ASF management
          * First GbE controller housed within a 21 x 21 mm small form factor
            package
          * First GbE controller to enable $99 NIC pricing

     -- BCM5702 32-bit GbE PCI Controller
          * First 32-bit PCI-based GbE controller

     -- BCM5703 64-bit GbE PCI Controller
          * First GbE controller to incorporate 0.13-micron CMOS process
            technology

     -- BCM5704 64-bit Dual GbE PCI Controller
          * First dual port GbE controller to incorporate 0.13-micron CMOS
            processes
          * First GbE controller chip to be integrated into core-logic

     -- BCM5705/BCM5705M 32-bit GbE PCI Controllers
          * First GbE controller to achieve less than 1W of power dissipation
          * First GbE controller chip to feature dedicated mobile dynamic
            power modes and mobile features such as "clkrun"
          * First GbE controller to enable $49 NIC pricing

Availability and Pricing

Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet controllers are currently available to customers. Pricing is available upon request.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband communications and networking of voice, video and data services. Using proprietary technologies and advanced design methodologies, Broadcom designs, develops and supplies complete system-on-a- chip solutions and related hardware and software applications for every major broadband communications market. Our diverse product portfolio includes solutions for digital cable and satellite set-top boxes; cable and 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 processors; and SystemI/O™ server solutions. These technologies and products support our core mission: Connecting everything®.

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

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

All statements included or incorporated by reference in this release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward- looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us, all of which are subject to change. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "potential," "continue," similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.

Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with its NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet controller products include, but are not limited to, general economic and political conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address, including the continuing significant economic slowdown and volatility in the technology sector and semiconductor industry, trends in the broadband communications markets in various geographic regions, and possible disruption in commercial activities related to terrorist activity or armed conflict in the United States and other locations; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's technologies and products in the markets for enterprise networking applications; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in those markets; competitive pressures and other factors such as the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products; 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 availability and pricing of third party semiconductor foundry and assembly capacity and raw materials; 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; the risks of producing products with new suppliers and at new fabrication and assembly facilities; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the availability of our customers to manage their inventory; the loss of a key customer; our ability to specify, develop or acquire, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a timely manner; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non- certification; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; the effects of new and emerging technologies; changes in our product or customer mix; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims and other types of litigation risk; 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 quality of our products and any remediation costs; the effectiveness of our expense and product cost control and reduction efforts; the risks and uncertainties associated with our international operations, particularly in light of recent events; the effects of natural disasters, public health emergencies, international conflicts 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, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as other important risk factors that could contribute to such differences or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of this date. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason.

Broadcom®, the pulse logo, Connecting everything®, NetXtreme™ and SystemI/O™ are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. Microsoft® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. 

     Broadcom Trade Press Contact
     Scott Harlin
     Sr. Communications Specialist
     949-926-5226
     sharlin@broadcom.com

     Broadcom Business Press Contact
     Bill Blanning
     Sr. Director, Corporate Communications
     949-926-5555
     blanning@broadcom.com

     Broadcom Technical Contact
     Sean Hall
     Channel Marketing Manager
     949-926-5267
     shall@broadcom.com

     Broadcom Investor Relations Contact
     T. Peter Andrew Sr.
     Director, Investor Relations
     949-926-5663
     andrewtp@broadcom.com

SOURCE Broadcom Corporation 

Broadcom Trade Press: Scott Harlin, Sr. Communications
Specialist, +1-949-926-5226, sharlin@broadcom.com, or Broadcom Business Press:
Bill Blanning, Sr. Director, Corporate Communications, +1-949-926-5555,
blanning@broadcom.com, or Broadcom Technical: Sean Hall, Channel Marketing
Manager, +1-949-926-5267, shall@broadcom.com, or Broadcom Investor Relations:
T. Peter Andrew Sr. Director, Investor Relations, +1-949-926-5663,
andrewtp@broadcom.com, all of Broadcom Corporation

http://www.broadcom.com