Broadcom Announces World's First Gigabit Ethernet IP Phone Chip

Broadcom Announces World's First Gigabit Ethernet IP Phone Chip New Chip Eliminates Network Bottlenecks and Integrates Critical Features Required for Next-Generation Internet Protocol (IP) Phones, Including an Advanced Hardware Security Module for Encrypting Voice Calls IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM), a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor solutions enabling broadband communications, today announced the industry's first Internet Protocol (IP) phone chip that incorporates Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switching, end-to-end security, advanced quality of service (QoS) techniques and increased processing performance in a single-chip design. This highly integrated IP phone chip features new Ethernet switching capabilities that enable deployed IP phones to achieve maximum throughput over GbE networks. Gigabit Ethernet technology is now becoming widely deployed in enterprise networks to support the increased bandwidth requirements of converged voice, video and data communications. The new Broadcom(R) Gigabit Ethernet IP phone chip is the successor to the company's field-proven Fast Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) IP phone chip, which has been widely deployed in enterprise IP-PBX systems from leading equipment vendors worldwide. "The deployment of Gigabit Ethernet connections within most enterprise PC shipments has rapidly occurred over the past year due to the demands for increased bandwidth to support voice, data and video services," said Sean Lavey, a program manager with IDC's semiconductor research. "IDC forecasts IP phone shipments will grow at a 42% compounded annual growth rate for the 2004- 2008 time period as more businesses install these feature-rich and more cost- effective VoIP systems. With IP phone adoption also on the rise, Gigabit Ethernet capability inside these new designs will also become a requirement to ensure that this faster speed will be readily available to the end user." As networks migrate to Gigabit Ethernet, it will become essential for IP phones to operate at the same speed. This capability is especially critical in office environments where the IP phone resides between the network connection and the PC, and its integrated Ethernet switch (two external ports) supports both voice calls through the phone and data traffic to the PC using one Ethernet connection to each office. In this network configuration, the integrated switch in the IP phone dictates the speed of the network. If the network is operating at Gigabit Ethernet speeds, it becomes critical for the phone to also support the GbE rate to prevent a bottleneck between the local area network (LAN) and the PC. "The integration of Gigabit Ethernet capability into next-generation IP phones is a natural progression in the evolution of Voice over IP within the enterprise," said Paul Shore, Director of Marketing for Broadcom's VoIP Client Devices. "In addition to bridging the gap between Gigabit Ethernet networks and IP phones, our new chip integrates a number of new features that will help to further accelerate the adoption of VoIP in the enterprise." Product Information The Broadcom BCM1103 IP phone chip enables manufacturers to build IP phones with integrated Gigabit Ethernet switching and other essential features to support improved voice quality, guaranteed voice security and graphics- driven applications that demand more processing power. The chip integrates a Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 Mbps) switch and two Fast Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) transceivers, allowing for the development of traditional Fast Ethernet IP phone designs without the additional cost of adding external transceivers. With the addition of external Gigabit Ethernet transceivers, manufacturers can easily upgrade their designs to create Gigabit Ethernet IP phone models. Broadcom's IP phone chip is the company's first to include Broadcom's BroadSAFE(TM) security technology, which enables the secure transmission of voice packets without burdening the phone's RISC CPU. The BCM1103's hardware security module performs voice encryption and authentication and elevates the phone's system security using a unique identifier embedded in each chip that is virtually impossible to decode, hack, or steal, thereby providing assurance that the identity of each phone in the network is genuine. These advanced security features allow IT managers to ensure the integrity of corporate voice communications. The chip's high-performance RISC processor and DSP support Broadcom's field-proven PhonexChange(TM) IP telephony software suite. PhonexChange is used across all of Broadcom's IP phone solutions, allowing BCM1101 IP phone customers to leverage their existing software development investments, therefore, minimizing time to market and development risks when designing in the BCM1103. The PhonexChange suite supports a wide variety of narrowband and wideband voice coders, including Broadcom's high-fidelity BroadVoice(R) coder, a high quality full-duplex speakerphone algorithm, advanced jitter buffer management and packet loss concealment techniques, and a complete library of standard telephony algorithms required for IP phone designs. The RISC processor in the BCM1103 further allows customers to add product- differentiating software to support applications such as web browsing, graphics rendering, instant messaging and presence features. The chip further integrates a variety of IP phone peripherals including wideband-capable analog codecs (coder/decoder) with integrated amplifiers and provides flexible interfaces for external peripherals and memory types. This high level of integration reduces the phone's bill of material (BOM) costs and enables phone vendors to build scalable IP phone solutions using a single architecture. To help BCM1103 customers bring products to market more quickly, Broadcom has developed the BCM911103SP IP phone reference design platform. This platform includes a complete Gigabit Ethernet IP phone reference design board that allows developers to utilize all of the features of the BCM1103. The reference board includes a housing that features a large graphics display and comes with Broadcom's PhonexChange firmware and example application code. Pricing and Availability The BCM1103 chip and BCM91103SP reference design are sampling today. The chip comes in a 420-pin PBGA lead-free package and is priced at $25 in 10K quantities. Broadcom's Leadership Position in Voice IP Silicon Solutions Broadcom's IP phone chips are the most advanced solutions in the industry, offering a range of both high-end, mid-range, and basic voice and data capabilities. These chips, coupled with Broadcom's proven Ethernet networking and VoIP gateway technologies, are enabling manufacturers to deliver economical solutions for migrating businesses to complete IP telephony systems. Broadcom's VoIP solutions are shipping in volume production today to leading manufacturers worldwide for deployment in enterprise IP phones, residential terminal adapters, voice-enabled cable and DSL residential gateways worldwide and Wi-Fi phones. About Broadcom Broadcom Corporation is a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor solutions that enable broadband communications and networking of voice, video and data services. We design, develop and supply complete system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions incorporating digital, analog, radio frequency (RF), microprocessor and digital signal processing (DSP) technologies, as well as related hardware and software system-level applications. Our diverse product portfolio addresses every major broadband communications market and includes solutions for digital cable and satellite set-top boxes; high definition television (HDTV); cable and digital subscriber line (DSL) modems and residential gateways; high-speed transmission and switching for local, metropolitan, wide area and storage networking; home and wireless networking; cellular and terrestrial wireless communications; Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateway and telephony systems; broadband network and security processors; and SystemI/O(TM) server solutions. These technologies and products support our core mission: Connecting everything(R). Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and may be contacted at 1-949-450-8700 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, 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 our IP phone products, including the BCM1103, 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, 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 IP phone 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; 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; 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; the gain or loss of a key customer, design win or order; 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; our ability to scale our operations in response to changes in demand for our products and services; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification; our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and evolving industry standards and to identify opportunities in new markets; changes in our product or customer mix; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims and other types of litigation risk; the availability and pricing of third party semiconductor foundry and assembly 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; 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 quality of our products and any remediation costs; the effectiveness of our expense and product cost control and reduction efforts; the risks and uncertainties associated with our international operations, particularly in light of recent events; 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, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, 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, BroadVoice(R), BroadSAFE(TM), PhonexChange(TM) and SystemI/O(TM) are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States the EU and/or certain other countries. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Broadcom Trade Press Contact Jeremy Hyatt Senior Marketing Communications Specialist 949-926-5971 jhyatt@broadcom.com Broadcom Business Press Contact Bill Blanning Vice President, Public Relations 949-926-5555 blanning@broadcom.com Broadcom Technical Contact Bill Boora Product Marketing Manager 604-233-8642 bboora@broadcom.com Broadcom Investor Relations Contact T. Peter Andrew Sr. Director, Investor Relations 949-926-5663 andrewtp@broadcom.com Source: Broadcom Corporation CONTACT: Trade Press, Jeremy Hyatt, Senior Marketing Communications Specialist, +1-949-926-5971, jhyatt@broadcom.com, or Business Press, Bill Blanning, Vice President, Public Relations, +1-949-926-5555, blanning@broadcom.com, or Technical, Bill Boora, Product Marketing Manager, +1-604-233-8642, bboora@broadcom.com, or Investor Relations, T. Peter Andrew, Sr. Director, Investor Relations, +1-949-926-5663, andrewtp@broadcom.com, all of Broadcom Corporation Web site: http://www.broadcom.com/ ------- Profile: International Entertainment