Broadcom Announces Dual Port Gigabit Ethernet Transceiver for IP Phone Applications

LAS VEGAS, May 3, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Networld + Interop 2005 -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in wired and wireless broadband communications semiconductors, today announced a new dual port Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) transceiver designed specifically for IP phone applications. Since IP phones require dual ports to support both voice and data simultaneously, Broadcom's new transceiver is a great companion chip to its existing IP phone product family, enabling a two-chip Gigabit IP phone solution. With corporate PCs and network infrastructures transitioning to faster GbE speeds (from Fast Ethernet), the combination of the new Broadcom® dual port transceiver and IP phone chip upgrades the IP phone to faster GbE speeds as well, removing the phone as a network bottleneck.

As networks migrate to Gigabit Ethernet, the current generation of Fast Ethernet (FE) IP phones act as a bottleneck to PC data traffic as the IP phone resides between the network and the PC, supporting both voice calls and data using one Ethernet connection. In this configuration, the IP phone dictates the speed of the PC data traffic. The widespread adoption of GbE-enabled PCs by the enterprise market, coupled with the increase in corporate upgrades to support GbE, has created a critical need for IP phones to support Gigabit Ethernet to prevent bottlenecks between the network and the PC.

"IDC forecasts that IP phone shipments will grow at a 42% compounded annual growth rate for the time period between 2004 through 2008 as more businesses install these feature-rich and more cost-effective VoIP systems," said Sean Lavey, Semiconductor Program Manager for IDC. "With IP phone adoption on the rise, Gigabit Ethernet capabilities inside of these new products will also become a requirement to ensure that this faster speed will be readily available to end users."

"Our new BCM5482 dual port GbE transceiver is ideally positioned to accelerate the migration of IP phones to faster speeds removing the IP phone as a network bottleneck," said Nariman Yousefi, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Networking Physical Layer/Optical Line of Business. "In addition to bridging the IP phone gap between Gigabit Ethernet networks and PCs, our new dual port transceiver offers a more cost-effective solution (one chip versus two single port transceivers) and takes up less real estate in space-constrained IP phone configurations."

The BCM5482 is the latest member of Broadcom's 0.13-micron Gigabit Ethernet-over-copper physical layer (PHY) device family, joining more than 25 additional quad and single port PHY/transceiver products. Broadcom has shipped more than 100 million Gigabit PHY ports to date, making its Gigabit transceivers the most field-proven and reliable in the industry. Based upon the latest GbE switch market research from Dell'Oro Group, Broadcom PHYs have accounted for 72% of all GbE switch ports shipped as of the end of 2004. In addition to its strong performance in the GbE switch market, Dell'Oro LAN-on- motherboard data indicates Broadcom controllers containing GbE PHYs have achieved 64% market share for first quarter 2005.

The Broadcom BCM1103 IP Phone Chip

The Broadcom BCM1103 IP phone chip, the world's first GbE VoIP chip, is highly integrated and incorporates Gigabit Ethernet switching, end-to-end security, advanced Quality of Service and increased processing performance in a single-chip design. The combination of the BCM1103's new GbE switching capabilities, with the BCM5482's new dual port GbE transceiver technology, enables deployed IP phones to achieve maximum throughput over Gigabit Ethernet networks. The BCM1103 is sampling today.

Pricing and Availability

The BCM5482 dual port GbE transceiver is sampling to early access customers and is priced at $8.40 in quantities of 10,000 units.

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 http://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