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Broadcom Transceiver Enables Wide-Scale Deployment of a Gigabit Ethernet Over Existing Category 5 Cable
Major Momentum in Gigabit Ethernet Over Copper Deployment Exemplifies Strong
Demand for Higher Speed Networks
IRVINE, Calif., April 10, 2000 -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a leading developer of integrated circuits enabling broadband communications to and throughout the home and business, today announced that Gigabit Ethernet over copper products has reached wide-spread deployment from multiple leading network vendors. Enabled by Broadcom's IEEE 802.3ab standard compliant BCM5400 Gigabit Ethernet Transceiver, these products are transmitting data at gigabit speeds (1000 Megabit-per-seconds/Mbps) over the existing copper wiring, presently used for 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet. These new Ethernet products will alleviate network bottlenecks caused by increased voice, video and data Internet traffic and the exchange of larger files - graphics and imaging - over the existing network.
"We have been in volume production with our BCM5400 since October," said Marty Colombatto, Vice President/General Manager of Broadcom's Network Business Unit.
"The fact that customers are now shipping multiple products based on the BCM5400 is an important event for the industry, clearly demonstrating these next-generation, higher-speed Ethernet products improve the performance of existing networks."
Network equipment manufacturers producing Gigabit Ethernet products based on the BCM5400 include 3Com Corporation (SuperStack II 1000Base-T module), Alteon WebSystems (ACEnic), Asante Technologies (GigaNIX, and FriendlyNet GX4), Cabletron Systems (VHSIM-G02, and SSR-GTX32-02), Dell Computer (Adapter card), Delta, Extreme Networks (BlackDiamond 6808, 6816 and Summit 7I, 24 and 48 family of switches), Foundry Networks (BigIron, FastIron II GC, and FastIron II Plus GC 64, Hewlett-Packard Company (ProCurve Networking by HP 100/1000Base-T switching module), Hitachi Cable, Ixia Communications (LM1000T Load Module), NEC Corporation, NetCom Systems (GX-1420B 1000Base-T Gigabit Copper SmartCard), SysKonnect(SK-NET GE-T single and dual link adapters), and several others.
"As the first leading switch vendor to ship 1000BASE-T technology, we've found that the performance of the BCM5400 in our ProCurve Networking by HP system definitely shows that Broadcom's Gigabit Ethernet over copper solution is ready for wide-spread deployment," said John McHugh, general manager of ProCurve Networking by HP.
"The convergence of voice, video and data is increasing the bandwidth requirements from the network backbone to the desktop. The wide-spread deployment of copper-based Gigabit Ethernet products is a cost-effective solution for circumventing future network bottlenecks to the desktop," said 3Com Representative and Title).
"The customer demand for copper-based Gigabit Ethernet products is starting to take off as companies begin to upgrade systems to support increased traffic on private networks and the Internet," said ( Dell Representative and Title.).
"Copper-based Gigabit Ethernet products are enabling corporations to cost-effectively increase their network capacity for sharing larger data- and graphic-intensive files as well as increased voice and data traffic over the Internet," said (Extreme Networks Representative and Title.).
"Corporations want to upgrade their network capacity today to support future bandwidth demands, which is increasing the deployment momentum for copper-based Gigabit Ethernet products," said (Cabletron Representative and Title).
Since its initial demonstration at Networld+Interop in May 1999, the BCM5400 transceiver has completed more than nine months of extensive system-level testing in real-world and "worse-case" cable plants by hundreds of engineers worldwide. In addition to Broadcom's comprehensive component and system qualification, the device has also been the focus of testing for most of the networking industry. "Our leadership position in 1000BASE-T has permitted us to work closely with many of the leading networking companies to verify that the BCM5400 is highly robust across a wide range of cable plants and meets or exceeds all of the test requirements in the IEEE 802.3ab Standard," said Nariman Yousefi, Director of Engineering for the Network Business Unit at Broadcom.
As a Charter Member of the Gigabit and Fast Ethernet Consortiums at the University of New Hampshire's InterOperability Lab, Broadcom is continuing to support efforts to improve compliance testing and insure future interoperability.
Broadcom also announced today the availability of Integrated Cable Management software for the BCM5400. This software utilizes the DSP-based architecture of the BCM5400 to allow remote cable-plant management and testing without deployment of field technicians. The BCM5400's Integrated Cable Management functions include the ability to determine cable length, pair swaps, pair polarity reversal, cable cross over, and cable fault detection and isolation.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is the leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband digital transmission of voice, data and video content to and throughout the home and within the business enterprise. Using proprietary technologies and advanced design methodologies, the company designs, develops and supplies integrated circuits for a number of the most significant broadband communications markets, including the markets for cable set-top boxes, cable modems, high-speed office networks, home networking, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), residential broadband gateways, direct broadcast satellite and terrestrial digital broadcast, and digital subscriber line (xDSL). Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and may be contacted at 949-450-8700 or at Broadcom home page.
Safe Harbor Statement of Broadcom Corporation under the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "may," "will" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.
Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with the BCM5400 product include, but are not limited to, the timing and successful completion of technology and product development through volume production; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's technologies and products in the markets for video-graphics/decoder-subsystems; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in the foregoing markets; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders; the loss of a key customer; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; silicon wafer pricing and the availability of foundry and assembly capacity and raw materials; the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of ourproducts; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims; our ability to specify, develop, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a timely manner; the effects of new and emerging technologies; the effectiveness of our product cost reduction efforts; fluctuations in our manufacturing yields and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products; 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 risks and uncertainties associated with our international operations; 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; changes in our product or customer mix; the quality of our products and any remediation costs; the effects of natural disasters and other events beyond our control; the level of orders received that can be shipped in a fiscal quarter; potential business disruptions, claims, expenses and other difficulties resulting from "Year 2000" problems in computer-based systems used by us, our suppliers or our customers; general economic conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address; and other factors.
Our recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss some of the important risk factors that may affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.
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