Broadcom Announces Industry's Most Integrated Electronic Dispersion Compensation (EDC) Equalizer Solution With Full Adaptation

NFOEC 2005, March 7, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in wired and wireless broadband communications semiconductors, today announced a highly integrated optical networking chip featuring leading-edge electronic dispersion compensation (EDC) technology. This low-power, high-performance EDC device extends the transmission distance significantly by maintaining the integrity and quality of the signal, and improves networking efficiency, enabling a seamless, cost-effective upgrade to existing enterprise and metro service transport networks. The Broadcom® solution helps enable the widespread deployment of 10 Gigabit per second (Gbps) optical networks.

As part of the product launch, Broadcom will demonstrate its new BCM8105 optical networking solution that integrates EDC technology over a variety of fiber links. This demonstration will occur at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference & Exposition and National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/ NFOEC 2005), located at the Anaheim Convention Center, Booth # 3171, beginning March 8th.

Today's transport networks have a large installed base of legacy fiber links dominated by 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and OC-48 (2.48 Gbps) optical interconnect data transmissions. The increase in data traffic is driving the need to upgrade those fibers with 10GbE and OC-192 links. However, at the 10 Gbps rate, legacy fiber protocols are subject to dispersion that can limit transmission distance and adversely affect the integrity of the signal itself. To avoid this limitation, EDC technology has proven to be a viable long distance solution by providing the throughput and distance improvements to enhance these legacy fiber applications.

EDC is an important technology, supported by the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) -- a group currently defining a 10 Gbps interoperability specification targeting optical links. The transmission distance of this specification supports up to 120 km (2400 ps/nm), however, the maximum distance currently supported is specified at up to 80 km. To achieve this reach extension and lower the cost of optics on existing fiber links, EDC technology, as offered in the new BCM8105 optical networking chip, provides customers a seamless upgrade on existing OC-48 trunks beyond 80 km to OC-192, while enabling the use of low-cost optics without the need to re-engineer the link.

Utilizing a 0.13 micron CMOS process technology and consuming a little over 1 Watt of power, the BCM8105 features 9.9 Gbps to 11.1 Gbps clock and data recovery with a SFI-4 de-multiplexer that incorporates an adaptive EDC equalizer. This capability extends the reach of the signal and improves performance on DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) metro and long-haul SONET/SDH transmission systems.

Based on three previous generations of high-speed CMOS silicon designed for the OC-48, OC-192 SONET/SDH and 10GbE markets, the new BCM8105 device is a multi-rate solution that provides full adaptation on the EDC equalizer with additional automatic tuning on the high-speed receiver threshold and phase levels for BER (bit-error rate) optimization. To provide customers with smooth transitions in rolling out their EDC-based designs, Broadcom has developed a pin-compatible footprint with the BCM8129 CDR de-multiplexer, which is shipping in volume today and offers customers a lower cost high-speed receiver solution without the EDC filter.

"Optical electronic dispersion compensation technology enables Optium to provide solutions to our customers which increase the transmission distance of Optium's industry leading 10 Gbps transceivers by over 50%," said Pete Hallemeier, Vice President of Strategic Marketing, Optium Corporation. "The EDC solution has no physical size impact, minimal power increase, and interoperates on existing links to improve optical bit-error rate performance and transmission distance. In order to exceed our customer commitments, Optium has been working with Broadcom on the BCM8129 and now the BCM8105 to enable an easy upgrade path for customers to next generation 10Gbps optical modules."

For this chip development, Broadcom worked closely with its customers to help define, design and test next-generation systems using beta silicon that includes the EDC equalizer on-chip. As a result, the BCM8105 device was defined specifically to solve the dispersion issues associated with metro and long-haul SONET/SDH transmission links, enabling customers to move forward with EDC technology today.

"Harris Corporation is well known as a world-class provider of optical communications products. In servicing the 300-pin MSA 10GbE optical transponder market, we have helped lead the way in developing the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) requirements for OTN Interoperability at Long Reach (LR) and Very Long Reach (VR) link distances," stated Jerry Wood, director of Active Fiber Optic Products at Harris. "Testing beyond 120 km shows that Broadcom's new BCM8105 low-power CDR/Demux, with electronic dispersion compensation, more than satisfies the requirements for these performance-driven applications, providing a solution that we can take to market today."

Broadcom has a complete line of 2.5 Gbps and 10 Gbps products covering both SONET/SDH and the growing 10GbE market. The breadth of Broadcom's product portfolio gives customers a one-stop shop for all of their high-speed interconnect needs with technology that is unmatched in the industry today.

Availability and Packaging

Sampling now to key customers, the BCM8105 is housed in a 15mm x 15mm PBGA package. Pricing is available upon request.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a global leader in wired and wireless broadband communications semiconductors. Our products enable the convergence of high-speed data, high definition video, voice and audio at home, in the office and on the go. Broadcom provides manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices with the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything®.

Broadcom is one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies, with annual revenue of more than $2 billion. The company is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., with offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom 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," "ongoing," 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.

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SOURCE Broadcom Corporation