Broadcom Announces Single-Chip Cable Modem Solution for Europe; New ITU-Compliant Chip Enables Interoperable Cable Modem Standard for Europe.

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 1998--Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq:BRCM), a leading developer of integrated circuits enabling high-speed broadband communications to the home and business, today announced the availability of the industry's first single-chip communications solution for cable modems customized for the European market. The chip is compliant with the recently-approved International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T) J.112 cable modem standard and will provide European cable operators and consumers with interoperable cable modems at extremely competitive prices. Broadcom developed the chip to address the accelerating demand for high speed Internet access and Voice over IP (VoIP) applications within Europe.

"Broadcom's single-chip solution represents a significant milestone in the evolution of cable modems worldwide," said Tim Lindenfelser, Broadcom's Vice President of Marketing. "Developing a customized version of our BCM3300 allows us to provide a single-chip solution for the growing European interest in cable modems and high-speed Internet access. This chip will enable manufacturers to deliver advanced cable modems using an established standard that already has production-ready products that will be available at very attractive consumer price points. European cable operators are now in a very competitive position to provide high-speed Internet access over cable, and, by offering features such as telephony over cable, they can generate profitable new revenue streams."

About the BCM3300

The new Broadcom(R) QAMLink(TM) cable modem chip, the BCM3300, represents the industry's first single-chip cable modem solution that includes the ITU-T J.112-compliant Media Access Controller (MAC) and DVB-compliant physical layer (PHY) transmission functions. The integrated receiver supports the DVB cable transmission Baseline System, which is based on QAM modulation with 16, 33, 64, 128 and 256-QAM constellation points together with a very powerful Forward Error Correction (FEC) decoder.

The receiver in the BCM3300 incorporates a programmable gain amplifier, a 10-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, a digital demodulator, Nyquist filters, tracking loops, an adaptive-decision feedback equalizer, and a DVB/DAVIC-compatible forward error correction (FEC) decoder. The receiver supports variable baud rates up to 7 Mbaud to support data rates up to 56 Mbps using 256-QAM in an 8 MHz channel. The integrated transmitter features a programmable FEC encoder, a variable rate QPSK/16-QAM modulator capable of 20 Mbps upstream data rates, and a 10-bit D/A converter which can directly output a 0-65 MHz digitally-tunable RF center frequency.

The integrated MAC supervises the upstream and downstream functions as specified by the ITU-T J.112 MAC protocol, including advanced Quality of Service (QoS) features, fragmentation of packets to support constant bit rate services such as VoIP, sophisticated filtering to support multicast services and multiple service IDs so the user can have more than one PC connected to the modem. The integrated MAC also includes baseline privacy encryption/decryption for Internet security with 40/56-bit DES Cipher Block Chaining with Residual Block Termination. The MAC is based on a variable length Internet Protocol (IP) packet architecture. This architecture was chosen to optimize throughput by using an IP-based solution, which leverages the native format of the World Wide Web, thus avoiding the unnecessary overhead required by cell-based protocols such as ATM. The combination of Ethernet switching, Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet have ensured the steady advance of economical bandwidth and reduced the need for end-to-end ATM systems. By designing an advanced protocol to address typical variable length IP packet issues such as latency and QoS, the BCM3300 is able to provide an optimal solution for an integrated data, voice and video network. The BCM3300 interfaces to multiple low-cost, industry-standard CPUs, including the MIPS CPU, an architecture that was recently licensed by Broadcom.

Supporting Reference Design

To facilitate the design of cable modems based on the BCM3300, Broadcom has developed the BCM93300 cable modem reference design. The BCM93300 is a fully operational cable modem reference design that supports all of the ITU-T J.112 PHY and MAC protocol functions, as well as the advanced features incorporated in the BCM3300. The BCM93300 provides interfaces for 10Base-T Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), Voice over IP (the ability to send voice over the cable network using Internet Protocol) and video teleconferencing implementations. In addition to these interfaces, the reference design incorporates Broadcom's BCM3300, an RF Tuner with diplex filter, the CPU and memory onto a compact 6 x 8 inch board, thereby reducing the size and complexity of cable modems by one third.

BCM3300's Pricing and Availability

The BCM3300 is available today in sample quantities. The device is packaged in a 256-pin ball grid array (BGA) and is priced at $50 in 10,000 piece quantities. The BCM9300 reference design is also available today.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a leading developer of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband digital data transmission to the home and within the business enterprise. Using proprietary technologies and advanced design methodologies, the Company has designed and developed integrated circuits for some of the most significant broadband communications markets, including the markets for cable set-top boxes, cable modems, high-speed networking, direct broadcast satellite and terrestrial digital broadcast, and digital subscriber line (xDSL). Broadcom is based in Irvine, California, and can be contacted at 949-450-8700 or at http://www.broadcom.com.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation 

Reform Act of 1995

This release may contain forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties that may cause actual future events or results to differ materially and adversely from those described in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom include, but are not limited to, the volume of product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders; the loss of a significant customer; the timing of customer qualification and industry interoperability certification of new products; the rate of adoption by customers and end-users of new and emerging technologies in the high-speed data networking, cable set-top box, cable modem, direct broadcast satellite and terrestrial digital broadcast, and digital subscriber line (xDSL) markets; the rate of adoption and acceptance of new industry standards in the foregoing markets; the Company's ability to specify, develop, introduce and market new products and technologies on a timely basis; the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies from other vendors; fluctuations in manufacturing yields and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of products; uncertainties associated with international operations; the Company's ability to retain and hire key executives, technical personnel and other employees; problems or delays in achieving higher levels of design integration and in migrating product designs to smaller geometry processes; intellectual property disputes; changes in product or customer mix; the quality of the Company's products; the level of orders received that can be shipped in a quarter; the effects on operations and management of facility relocations; general economic conditions and market conditions in the markets addressed by Broadcom; and the other factors discussed in the Company's filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the Registration Statement on Form S-1 (Amendment No. 6) and Final Prospectus dated April 16, 1998, the Registration Statement on Form S-1 dated September 30, 1998, and the Company's quarterly filings on Form 10-Q. Broadcom disclaims any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by it or on its behalf.

Note to Editors: Broadcom is a registered trademark of Broadcom Corporation. QAMLink is a trademark of Broadcom Corporation.