Broadcom's ServerWorks Subsidiary Unveils New Grand Champion Architecture for Future Intel Xeon Based Servers; Industry's First Platform to Provide Host Support for PCI-X.

Business Editors and High Tech Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 2001

Broadcom's (Nasdaq: BRCM) ServerWorks subsidiary, the leading independent supplier of high-performance SystemI/O(TM) integrated circuits for servers, today unveiled details of its Grand Champion(TM) HE architecture for Intel(R)-based multiprocessor platforms. ServerWorks' Grand Champion HE architecture delivers an unprecedented 6.4 Gigabytes per second of memory bandwidth and up to 5 GBytes/second of I/O throughput, supporting a maximum of six independent PCI-X bus segments and one traditional 32-bit PCI bus.

This is ServerWorks' highest performing SystemI/O architecture to date, and it will support 2-way and 4-way implementations of future Intel Xeon(TM) processors for servers, storage and networking appliance platforms. Further, the Grand Champion HE is the industry's first platform to provide host PCI-X support.

New Architecture Enables 6.4 GBytes/second Memory Bandwidth

The Grand Champion HE's 6.4 GBytes/second memory bandwidth represents a factor of four improvement over the 1.6 GBytes/second bandwidth delivered by ServerWorks' previous high-end ServerSet(TM) III HE. To achieve this dramatic gain, ServerWorks deploys banks of next-generation DDR memory operating in a four-way interleaved configuration. The design accommodates up to sixteen registered PC1600 DIMMs with capacities of 128 Megabytes through two Gigabytes each, for a system maximum of 32 Gigabytes, four times more than the earlier ServerSet III HE design. The design includes a sophisticated 128-bit ECC algorithm that enhances system reliability by correcting quad-bit errors and detecting eight-bit errors. The ECC algorithm also supports ServerWorks' Enterprise Chipkill(TM) Technology that maintains system data integrity, even in the event of the failure of an entire DRAM chip within the memory array. The design also supports a memory-scrubbing feature that detects errors before they can impact system operation; memory mirroring for extra robust operation; and hot plug memory that allows memory upgrades while the system continues in operation. The Grand Champion HE platform's combination of high memory bandwidth and high Reliability/Availability/Serviceability (RAS) allows Intel based servers to be used in applications previously served only by more expensive systems based on proprietary architectures.

Grand Champion HE Supports PCI-X, for 5 GBytes/second I/O Throughput

The Grand Champion HE's 5 GBytes/second I/O bandwidth delivers a factor of five improvement over the one GByte/second capacity of the earlier ServerSet III HE, and a factor of thirty-seven improvement over the bandwidth offered by desktop solutions that support only one 32-bit PCI bus. Because not all systems require as much I/O capacity as the Grand Champion HE delivers in its maximum configuration, ServerWorks chose a modular scheme that allows system designers to add 64-bit/100 MHz PCI-X channels in groups of two. Each dual channel PCI-X controller has its own dedicated 1.6 GBytes/second full duplex connection to the North Bridge to accommodate the peak traffic generated by the PCI-X buses it controls. These PCI-X controllers support hot plug PCI operation for maximum operational flexibility. The Grand Champion's North Bridge handles all cache coherency issues, and allows devices attached to any PCI-X or PCI bus to initiate peer-to-peer transactions with any other device on any other bus in the system.

"The launch of our new Grand Champion technology marks a number of industry firsts for ServerWorks," commented Raju Vegesna, President and CEO of ServerWorks. "Our platforms are the first to support PCI-X, an important new high-performance input/output standard for server and workstation platforms, and first to deliver memory bandwidth of 6.4 GBytes/second, which is four times the memory bandwidth of our previous high-end solutions. Servers are all about bandwidth, and systems that use our new design will offer far more bandwidth than anything else in their price class."

"Intel continues to work closely with ServerWorks to develop technology showcasing Intel's high performance Xeon processors," said Mike Fister, Vice President and General Manager of Intel's Enterprise Platform Group. "ServerWorks' Grand Champion HE will provide the required memory and I/O bandwidth demanded by future Intel Xeon processors."

The Grand Champion HE chipset, supporting 2-way or 4-way server implementations, includes a North Bridge (Part No. NB7410), a South Bridge (Part No. SB7440), five memory controller interface chips (Part No. NB7430) and one to three Dual-Channel PCI-X controllers (Part No. IB7420). The Grand Champion HE chipset is currently scheduled for production in the third quarter of 2001.

ServerWorks Corporation is the world's leading independent supplier of high-performance system input/output (I/O) integrated circuits for servers. ServerWorks' SystemI/O(TM) silicon solutions, which are used pervasively by leading original equipment manufacturers, act as the essential conduits for delivering high-bandwidth data in and out of servers and coordinating all I/O transactions within the server platform, including between external I/O, the main system memory and the CPUs. ServerWorks, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Broadcom Corporation located in Santa Clara, Calif., may be contacted at 408-492-1915 or at www.serverworks.com.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is the leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband digital transmission of voice, video, and data. Using proprietary technologies and advanced design methodologies, the company designs, develops and supplies system-on-a-chip solutions for broadband communications markets. Broadcom products enable communications for applications in cable set-top boxes, cable modems, high-speed local, metropolitan and wide area and optical networks, home networking, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), carrier access, residential broadband gateways, direct broadcast satellite and terrestrial digital broadcast, digital subscriber lines (xDSL), wireless communications, SystemI/O(TM) server solutions and network processing. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and may be contacted at 949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com.

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," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will" and variations of these words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are 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 its ServerWorks Grand Champion HE products include, but are not limited to, the timing and successful completion of technology and product development through volume production; general economic conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address; the rate at which present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's technologies and products in the markets for high performance system I/O and networking products; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in the foregoing markets; changes in ServerWorks' relationships with Intel Corporation; 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 our products; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims; 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; our ability to specify, develop or acquire, 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; the risks of producing products with new suppliers and at new fabrication and assembly facilities; 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; and other factors.

Our forthcoming Annual Report on Form 10-K, recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Forms 8-K and 8-K/A, 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.

ServerWorks, SystemI/O, Grand Champion and ServerSet are trademarks of ServerWorks Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. Broadcom(R) and the pulse logo are registered trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. Intel and Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation. Chipkill is a trademark of IBM Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.