Broadcom Announces New Gigabit Ethernet Switches that Self-Diagnose Problems in Home and Small Business Networks

IRVINE, Calif., Nov 07, 2005 -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in wired and wireless broadband communications semiconductors, today announced its next-generation of 5-port and 8-port ROBOSwitch™ Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switch products that are optimized for the small office/home office (SOHO) and small-to-medium-sized business (SMB) networks. These highly integrated Broadcom® ROBOSwitch products enable cost-optimized Gigabit switching solutions for customers upgrading from Fast Ethernet (FE). The products provide innovative network diagnosis capabilities that can simplify the transition to Gigabit Ethernet over existing wiring. Focused on reducing network downtime, these GbE switches are ideally suited for unmanaged and lightly managed SMB networks, and for broadband access embedded applications such as cable, ADSL and wireless routers, and passive optical networks (PON).

Installing local area networks (LANs) can be frustrating and costly for home and small business owners, as it is difficult to diagnose and fix wiring problems. This results in network downtime, unnecessary support costs and reduced productivity. One common problem is the presence of a network "loop"- in some cases a simple error such as an incorrectly attached cable can crash the entire network. Transitioning a network from FE to GbE may bring new issues, as substandard wiring may work improperly with Gigabit signaling. If the source of the problem is not immediately apparent to the user, it often leads to calls to IT support or customer service, and in some cases product returns. To alleviate this problem, Broadcom has incorporated new technologies in this latest generation of ROBOSwitch products. Broadcom's CableChecker technology finds the location of wiring faults without disrupting live network traffic. Broadcom's LoopDTech technology provides immediate warning when a loop is introduced in the network, allowing the problem to be identified and fixed quickly. These functions are automatic and require no configuration by the user.

"In the SOHO and SMB markets, there is high demand for simple, reliable solutions that can reduce network problems and minimize downtime," said Martin Lund, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Network Switching Business Unit. "Our cost-optimized and feature-rich GbE switches self-diagnose wiring problems, simplify network installation, and will further accelerate the transition to Gigabit Ethernet in homes and small offices."

Highly Integrated, Feature-Rich Solution

Announced today is Broadcom's new 5-port BCM5397 Gigabit Ethernet switch and 8-port BCM5398 Gigabit Ethernet switch. Broadcom's next-generation GbE switches have fully-integrated PHYs for all ports, resulting in a lower cost and a smaller footprint design that is easy to implement. The products integrate new intelligent features for unmanaged networks, including LoopDTech and CableChecker. For lightly managed applications, the BCM5397 and BCM5398 are the most fully featured 5- or 8-port GbE switches available, as they provide quality of service (QoS)/queuing, rapid spanning tree, 802.1Q VLAN with double tagging, rate control, IGMP snooping, 802.1x security, and numerous other functions. These products are ideal for unmanaged and lightly managed GbE workgroup switch designs, as well as for Gigabit-enabled home gateways.

Availability

Broadcom's 5-port BCM5397 and 8-port BCM5398 are currently sampling to early access customers. 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 and business, 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.

Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with the BCM5397 and BCM5398 Gigabit Ethernet switch products include, but are not limited to, general economic and political conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address, including the 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; our ability to scale our operations in response to changes in demand for our existing products and services or demand for new products requested by our customers; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims and other types of litigation risk; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the ability of our customers, to manage inventory; our ability to retain, recruit and hire key executives, technical personnel and other employees in the positions and numbers, with the experience and capabilities, and at the compensation levels needed to implement our business and product plans; our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and evolving industry standards and to identify opportunities in new markets; our ability to specify, develop or acquire, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a cost-effective and timely manner; the gain or loss of a key customer, design win or order; 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; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification; changes in our product or customer mix; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; 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 effects of new and emerging technologies; 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®, the Connecting everything logo ROBOSwitch™, CableChecker™ and LoopDTech™ are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

Broadcom Trade Press Contact
Mike He
Public Relations Manager
408-922-8083
mhe@broadcom.com

Broadcom Technical Contact
Eric Yeh
Senior Product Line Manager
408-922-8057
ericyeh@broadcom.com

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

SOURCE Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Enterprise Networking

Trade Press, Mike He, Public Relations Manager, +1-408-922-8083, mhe@broadcom.com, or Technical, Eric Yeh, Senior Product Line Manager, +1-408-922-8057, ericyeh@broadcom.com, or Investor Relations, T. Peter Andrew, Sr. Director, Investor Relations, +1-949-926-5663, andrewtp@broadcom.com, all of Broadcom