Broadcom Bows 10-Gig Transceiver

LAS VEGAS -- Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced a new 65 nanometer (nm) 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) physical layer (PHY) transceiver to support IEEE 802.3 10GBASE-T operation over 100 meters of Category 6A unshielded twisted pair (UTP) or Category 7 cables. Fabricated in 65nm CMOS process technology, the new device is a single-chip/single-die solution, versus competitive solutions that require multiple chips. The Broadcom(R) 10GBASE-T PHY is the only device in the industry to support auto-negotiation between four different Ethernet speeds (10/100/1000 Megabits per second and 10 Gigabits per second), enabling compatibility with the installed base of Ethernet technology.

The 10GbE-over-copper market is poised to grow substantially over the coming years since it delivers the higher bandwidth needed to support the ongoing convergence of networking, high performance computing and storage traffic in the enterprise and data center. The 10GbE market is positioned for significant growth driven by the deployment of Gigabit Ethernet to the desktop. These applications require upstream devices that have a higher throughput capability, similar to the converged data center, where server connectivity and storage applications are currently migrating to 10GbE speeds.

To address this market requirement, Broadcom today announces the BCM8481 10GBASE-T transceiver, a complete PHY solution operating over 100 meters of UTP cables. This fully integrated digital signal processor (DSP)-based architecture combines front-end with analog-to-digital converters, adaptive equalizers, phased locked loops, line drivers, low density parity check (LDPC) encoders and decoders, echo and crosstalk cancellers, and the industry standard XAUI interface. With today's BCM8481 announcement, Broadcom further extends its comprehensive portfolio of field proven and complete end-to-end 10GbE solutions featuring switching products, transceivers, controllers and SerDes (serializers/deserializers).

"Broadcom is accelerating the industry transition to 10GbE with highly integrated, cost effective, low power Ethernet transceiver solutions," said Kevin Brown, Senior Director and General Manager of Broadcom's PHY line of business. "The BCM8481 complements our 10GbE controller and switch products and completes our portfolio of 10GbE physical layer products for fiber, backplane, twin-axial copper and now UTP copper cables. We believe that 10GBASE-T products that are also interoperable with 1000BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, and even 10BASE-T are ideal for wide deployment of the technology."

Broadcom Corp.