Broadcom Delivers World's Lowest Power, Dual-Port Gigabit Ethernet-over-Copper Transceiver with Intelligent Network Functions.

Business Editors and High-Tech Writers

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 26, 2000

Broadcom's Third Generation Transceiver Doubles Port Density While

Reducing Power and Size of Gigabit Transceivers by 50%

Advanced New Features Include Ethernet@WireSpeed(TM), New

Industry-Standard RGMII Interface, Remote Cable Management and

Wake-On-LAN (WOL) for PC99 and Windows 2000 Compliance

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), the leading provider of integrated circuits enabling high-speed broadband communications, today announced a low power, high-performance, dual-port 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet transceiver on a single, monolithic 0.18 micron CMOS chip, with a per-port power consumption of only 1.8 watts. The Broadcom(R) BCM5402 offers the highest level of silicon integration of any Gigabit copper transceiver, thereby enabling the cost-effective implementation of higher port density 10/100/1000 Ethernet switches, routers, and dual-port adapter cards.

The BCM5402 is Broadcom's third generation Gigabit copper transceiver, and is based on the same robust, field-proven DSP-based architecture used in its predecessors, the BCM5400 and BCM5401. Broadcom has already shipped nearly a million ports of Gigabit copper transceivers to leading networking vendors worldwide, making the BCM5400 family the world's only field-proven Gigabit transceiver design, and the natural choice for designers of next-generation Gigabit Ethernet networking equipment.

"The adoption of Gigabit Ethernet over copper networks will increase rapidly as cost per port further declines, and performance of Gigabit over existing Category (CAT) 5 copper plant is proven," said Marty Colombatto, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Networking Business Unit. "The BCM5402 is based on the only Gigabit transceiver architecture that has been field-proven to operate over existing CAT 5 cable plants. In addition to lowering overall system cost, the advanced features of the BCM5402 will enable next-generation Gigabit Ethernet systems to offer higher port density, lower power and more useful features."

The BCM5402 incorporates several advanced intelligent network functions, including a Wake-On-LAN (WOL) mode consuming less than 600 milliwatts per port, cable diagnostic software support, Link Quality LED, and Ethernet@WireSpeed(TM). The new device also incorporates the industry's most powerful DSP transceiver engine, ensuring the most robust and highest performance connections, at Gigabit speed, over the existing copper cabling infrastructure. The BCM5402 is also the industry's first Gigabit transceiver to utilize the new industry standard RGMII (Reduced Gigabit Media Independent Interface) interface, which further reduces the cost of high-port-density systems.

The BCM5402 incorporates all three Ethernet speeds -- 10, 100, and 1000 Megabits per second (Mbps) -- with standards-based auto-negotiation to ensure compatibility with all existing Ethernet network equipment operating over existing legacy copper cable plants. Furthermore, BCM5402's Ethernet@WireSpeed, a unique network intelligence feature, enables equipment manufactured using the BCM5402 to auto-negotiate to the maximum speed allowed by an impaired cable plant that cannot support the maximum speed allowed by the end equipment. This feature ensures the establishment of a network link even when operating over marginal cable plants.

With a power consumption of only 1.8 watts per port, the device requires no special provision for cooling, such as heat sinks or forced airflow. Additionally, Broadcom has incorporated several advanced power management features into the BCM5402. The low power Wake-On-LAN (WOL) mode meets the stringent standby power requirements of the PC99 industry standard. The device also allows for dynamic power reduction depending on connection speed and cable characteristics.

To reduce overall systems cost, each port in the BCM5402 supports RGMII, in addition to GMII and TBI (Ten Bit Interface). RGMII reduces the I/O pin count required to interface to a MAC (Media Access Controller) by more than 50% over the currently available GMII. For a 48-port system, using RGMII instead of GMII reduces overall system ASIC I/O pin count by 624 pins, which significantly reduces overall system cost and board design complexity. RGMII uses standard 2.5V Low Voltage CMOS technology, thus ensuring quick adoption in next-generation system ASICs.

Broadcom's proprietary Cable Management Software and Link Quality LED features allow users, IT managers and networking equipment vendors to remotely analyze the quality and infrastructure of the cable plant. These features simplify system installation and network testing and reduce the total cost of network ownership, while increasing customer satisfaction and network up-time and preventing erroneous customer returns of networking equipment due to cabling issues. The Cable Management Software utilizes advanced DSP algorithms to continuously and transparently analyze the cable plant. In addition to determining cable length and enabling cable fault detection isolation, Broadcom's Cable Management feature automatically and transparently detects and corrects the most common cabling installation errors, such as pair-swaps, pair-polarity reversal, pair skew, and cable crossover. The Link Quality Indicator LED gives installers an instant visual indication of any cable plant problems.

Availability

Samples of the BCM5402 Dual-Port Gigabit Ethernet Transceiver are available now in 256-pin TBGA or MQFP packages.

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 integrated circuits for a number of the most significant broadband communications markets, including the markets for cable set-top boxes, cable modems, high-speed local, metropolitan and wide area networks, home networking, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), residential broadband gateways, direct broadcast satellite and terrestrial digital broadcast, optical networking, digital subscriber lines (xDSL) and wireless communications. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and may be contacted at 949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com.

Safe Harbor Statement 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 the BCM5402 and the BCM5400 family of products 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 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet networking; 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 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; potential business disruptions, claims, expenses and other difficulties resulting from residual "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.

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Broadcom(R), Ethernet@WireSpeed (TM) and the pulse logo are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.