Broadcom Expands Networking Portfolio With Turnkey Solution for Enterprise Wireless...

Broadcom Expands Networking Portfolio With Turnkey Solution for Enterprise
Wireless Access Points
Leading Wi-Fi(R) Chipmaker Drives Enterprise WLAN Adoption with an End-to-End
Solution for Businesses Deploying 802.11n Networks

IRVINE, Calif., April 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broadcom Corporation
(Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless
communications, today expanded its network switching portfolio with an
end-to-end solution for businesses deploying 802.11n Wi-Fi(R) networks. The
new solution combines Broadcom's industry leading Intensi-fi(R) silicon with
its proven FASTPATH(R) networking software, which extends the
business-critical features from the company's popular StrataXGS(R) enterprise
switches. As a result, enterprise Wi-Fi access points can deliver superior
performance and scalability across a customer's entire network. This
integrated platform provides significant cost and time-to-market advantages
for manufacturers compared to other silicon solutions that do not include the
software features that IT managers require.
"Broadcom is building on the great success we have achieved with consumer
802.11n solutions to serve the untapped enterprise wireless market," said
Michael Hurlston, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Wireless
LAN line of business. "By marrying the industry's leading WLAN solutions with
proven switch hardware and software, Broadcom is well-positioned to pursue the
$2.3 billion enterprise wireless market with an end-to-end solution."(i)
Announced today are the Broadcom(R) BCM4342 single-chip 802.11n solution
and BCM954342EAP enterprise access point reference design. The new solutions
leverage FASTPATH Unified Access Point software to deliver the features that
IT managers require across their wireless networks including robust security,
quality of service (QoS), dynamic channel planning, and support for multiple
basic service set identifiers (BSSIDs). The flexible design can be used for
standalone access points, as well as for "thin" access points that are managed
by a wireless switch or controller running Broadcom's FASTPATH Unified
Wireless Switching software. This end-to-end platform provides centralized RF
management, seamless mobility and wireless threat detection and prevention
across the entire network. FASTPATH UAP eliminates the need for third-party
software or in-house development, which can shave months off a manufacturer's
development time.
"Mobility in the corporate work environment is a necessity and today's
mobile workforce has come to expect wireless connectivity anywhere and at any
time," said Martin Lund, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's
Network Switching line of business. "Enterprise customers demand more
reliable, secure and manageable networks than what's needed in the consumer
market. Given Broadcom's switching and WLAN expertise, combined with our
networking software, our platform can meet these demands and unleash the power
of 802.11n in business networks."
Solving PoE Issues to Drive Enterprise Adoption of 802.11n
Broadcom's BCM4342 Wi-Fi solution is also the first to successfully
address power consumption issues that have slowed business adoption of 802.11n
to date. Although dual-band 802.11n access points offer greater bandwidth and
capacity than previous products, simultaneous operation of both radios has
traditionally exceeded the power limits of the Power over Ethernet (PoE)
equipment used in nearly all large networks. This forced IT managers to use
two PoE ports for each access point, or upgrade their entire network to
support the new PoE+ standard (IEEE 802.3at).
Using 65nm CMOS process technology, Broadcom's single-chip BCM4342 Wi-Fi
solution consumes half the power of competing 802.11n chipsets, allowing
access points to operate simultaneously on the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency
bands while being powered by a company's existing PoE infrastructure. This can
reduce the cost of deploying or upgrading enterprise networks to support
advanced wireless applications such as high definition (HD) video
surveillance, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and video conferencing.
In addition to reducing implementation costs, access points based on the
BCM4342 will bring significant performance benefits to corporate Wi-Fi users.
Broadcom's unique architecture delivers data rates of 300 Megabits per second
(Mbps) and maintains wireless connections over a larger coverage area than
other 802.11n solutions. Intensi-fi solutions also offer the greatest wireless
capacity -- with three non-overlapping channels in the 2.4 GHz band and 24
non-overlapping channels in the 5 GHz band. This is especially important in
enterprise networks, where IT managers rely on dual-band infrastructure to
serve a large number of Wi-Fi users and accommodate latency-sensitive
applications.
Technical Information
The BCM4342 is a complete system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution that accelerates
time-to-market and reduces development costs for a variety of 802.11n access
points. It combines an 802.11 medium access controller (MAC), a baseband
processor, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios and other WLAN components onto a single
silicon die. This high level of integration reduces the number of components
required for a WLAN subsystem by two-thirds, which significantly reduces the
footprint and lowers a manufacturer's bill of materials (BOM) cost. Broadcom
is the only wireless LAN chipmaker delivering 65nm products, which provides
distinct power, size and cost advantages over 90nm and 130nm solutions.
Availability and Pricing
The BCM4342 Wi-Fi solution and BCM954342EAP enterprise access point
reference design are now sampling to early access customers, with production
quantities expected to ship in the second quarter of 2008. Pricing is
available upon request.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global leader in
semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom(R) products
enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the
home, the office and the mobile environment. We provide the industry's
broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions
to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment
and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our
core mission: Connecting everything(R).
Broadcom is one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies,
with 2007 revenue of $3.78 billion, and holds over 2,600 U.S. and 1,200
foreign patents, more than 7,450 additional pending patent applications, and
one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and
wireless transmission of voice, video, data and multimedia.
Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research
facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at
+1.949.926.5000 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 BCM4342 Wi-Fi 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, including seasonality in sales of consumer
products into which our products are incorporated, 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 wireless LAN applications; delays in the adoption and acceptance
of industry standards in those markets; the timing, rescheduling or
cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the
ability of our customers, to manage inventory; the gain or loss of a key
customer, design win or order; 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; 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; intellectual
property disputes and customer indemnification claims and other types of
litigation risk; 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 the quality of our products and any
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product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; the effectiveness of
our expense and product cost control and reduction efforts; our ability to
timely and accurately predict market requirements and evolving industry
standards and to identify opportunities in new markets; 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; 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
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party semiconductor foundry, assembly and test 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
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, 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(R), the pulse logo, Connecting everything(R), the Connecting
everything logo, FASTPATH(R), StrataXGS(R) and Intensi-fi(R) are among the
trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States,
certain other countries and/or the EU. Wi-Fi(R) is a trademark of the Wi-Fi
Alliance. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of
their respective owners.
(i) Dell'Oro Group Wireless LAN 5-year Forecast Report (January 2008)

Broadcom Trade Press Contact
Jeremy Hyatt
Senior Manager, Corporate Communications
949-926-5971
jhyatt@broadcom.com

Broadcom Investor Relations Contact
T. Peter Andrew
Vice President, Corporate Communications
949-926-5663
andrewtp@broadcom.com

SOURCE Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Mobile & Wireless

Jeremy Hyatt, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Broadcom Trade Press,
+1-949-926-5971, jhyatt@broadcom.com, or T. Peter Andrew Vice President,
Corporate Communications, Broadcom Investor Relations, +1-949-926-5663,
andrewtp@broadcom.com, both of Broadcom Corporation