adjust font size: 
New StrataXGS II Products Offer a Unique Mix of Scalability and Multi-layer Intelligence for Next Generation Enterprise and Metropolitan Networks
LAS VEGAS, Networld+Interop 2004, May 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor solutions enabling broadband communications, strengthened its position as the leader in the Ethernet semiconductor market today by introducing a broad portfolio of enterprise switch products. These new solutions extend the scalability and multi-layer intelligence of stackable Ethernet switches for maximum network uptime, security and ease-of-management.
Superior multi-layer intelligence enables faster, more efficient and cost-effective migration to next-generation enterprise and metropolitan networks. With the new StrataXGS® II switch family, system vendors can easily leverage their current investments in products based on StrataXGS® switches to address the convergence of voice, video and data traffic in the enterprise.
Today's enterprise networks require reliable, multi-layer intelligence at wire-speed performance, enhanced security to prevent sophisticated network attacks, and the ability to scale while reducing the total cost of management. The new Broadcom® BCM5675 enhanced StrataXGS II fabric enables systems to scale from 96 Gigabits per second (Gbps) to beyond one Terabit per second in bandwidth, providing the availability and redundancy that is essential to enterprise applications. Broadcom's BCM5695, BCM5674, and BCM5665 switch processors add advanced multi-layer intelligence to the already feature-rich StrataXGS Layer 2/3 switch family.
Service provider networks are migrating from circuit-based access to next generation packet-based access that will require highly reliable intelligent switching. The new StrataXGS II switch processors enable these services through advanced quality of service (QoS), granular rate limiting, double VLAN tagging and multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) features. They enable service providers to deliver transparent LAN services based on Ethernet, providing a cost effective replacement technology for legacy leased line networks.
According to IDC, Broadcom is the worldwide leader in Ethernet semiconductor products, with over 50 percent year-over-year revenue growth from 2002 to 2003. IDC's "Worldwide Ethernet Semiconductor 2003 Vendor Analysis" reports that much of that growth was attributed to the success of Broadcom's StrataXGS and StrataSwitch® product lines.
"Merchant switch silicon has been widely adopted in fixed and stackable Ethernet switches over the past several years," said Sean Lavey, Semiconductor Program Manager for IDC. "The next big step going forward for this segment will be migrating into higher layer chassis systems that offer larger enterprise-class capabilities and support for more advanced QoS and security features."
"The StrataXGS II product family delivers complete multi-layer, wire-speed switching solutions, from Fast Ethernet to 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Its comprehensive feature set includes Layer 3, QoS and Layer 2-7 packet processing capabilities, making it an ideal switching solution for the converged networks of tomorrow," said Martin Lund, Senior Director of Broadcom's Enterprise Switch Line of Business. "Using the StrataXGS II switch architecture, system vendors will be well positioned to meet the emerging requirements of their enterprise and service provider customers."
Technical Information
Superior scalability and maximum network uptime come from high-availability features such as a multi-stage switch fabric, dynamic insertion and removal of stacking elements, fault-tolerant network protocols and the BCMX API, which enables the management of all stacking elements using a single management structure. The BCM5675 switch fabric, scalable to multi-stage fabric solutions, integrates eight enhanced HiGig™ ports that can connect at full wire speed to new switch processors, while being fully backward compatible with the prior generation of BCM5670 fabrics.
To keep intruders at bay and prevent sophisticated virus attacks in the network, the new BCM5695, BCM5665 and BCM5674 switch processors support multi-layer intelligence in the form of integrated security, MAC-based user authentication, and wire-speed access control lists. New Metro Ethernet features extend the security boundary beyond the enterprise into service provider networks with support for double VLAN tagging, VLAN translation and MPLS tunneling. These solutions address additional traffic management requirements of large enterprise networks through support for policy-based rate limiting, end-to-end traffic control, IP multicast capabilities, IPv6 awareness and advanced Layer 2-7 ContentAware™ classification and filtering.
The BCM5695 multi-layer switch processor, with 12 Gigabit Ethernet ports, integrated SerDes and one enhanced HiGig uplink, is pin-to-pin compatible with Broadcom's BCM5690, a highly successful multi-layer Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switch. The BCM5665 is a single-chip, multi-layer switch processor that incorporates four GbE ports, 48 Fast Ethernet (FE) ports, as well as a HiGig uplink. The BCM5674 multi-layer switch processor, with one HiGig and 10 GbE port, extends the StrataXGS II feature set and copper connectivity to standards-based 10 GbE networks.
In addition to the new capabilities offered in the StrataXGS II products, system vendors can significantly reduce time-to-market and improve return-on- investment through a common software base across the entire product line using the field-proven Broadcom Switch Software API. A range of reference designs based upon the new devices is currently available.
Availability and Pricing
The BCM5675, BCM5695 and BCM5665 are sampling to customers today. The BCM5674 will be sampling in the third quarter of 2004. Pricing is available upon request.
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™ server solutions. These technologies and products support our core mission: Connecting everything®.
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," 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 its StrataXGS II product family, including the BCM5665, BCM5674, BCM5675 and BCM5695 enterprise switch products, 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 enterprise and consumer networking applications; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in those markets; 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 increases in demand for our products and services; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the ability of our customers, to manage inventory; the availability and pricing of third party semiconductor foundry and assembly capacity and raw materials; 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; 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; the loss of a key customer; our ability to specify, develop or acquire, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a timely manner; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; the effects of new and emerging technologies; changes in our product or customer mix; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims and other types of litigation risk; 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®, the pulse logo, Connecting everything®, StrataSwitch®, StrataXGS®, ContentAware™, HiGig™, and SystemI/O™ are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries.
Broadcom Trade Press Contact
Mike He
Sr. Communications Specialist
408-922-8083
mhe@broadcom.com
Broadcom Business Press Contact
Bill Blanning
Sr. Director, Corporate Communications
949-926-5555
blanning@broadcom.com
Broadcom Technical Contact
Malav Patel
Product Line Manager, Enterprise Switches
408-922-5612
mpatel@broadcom.com
Broadcom Investor Relations Contact
T. Peter Andrew
Sr. Director, Investor Relations
949-926-5663
andrewtp@broadcom.com
SOURCE Broadcom Corporation
-0- 05/10/2004
/CONTACT: Broadcom Trade Press, Mike He, Sr. Communications Specialist,
+1-408-922-8083, mhe@broadcom.com, or Broadcom Business Press, Bill Blanning,
Sr. Director, Corporate Communications, +1-949-926-5555,
blanning@broadcom.com, or Broadcom Technical, Malav Patel, Product Line
Manager, Enterprise Switches, +1-408-922-5612, mpatel@broadcom.com, or
Broadcom Investor Relations, T. Peter Andrew, Sr. Director, Investor
Relations, +1-949-926-5663, andrewtp@broadcom.com/
/Web site: http://www.broadcom.com /
(BRCM)
CO: Broadcom Corporation
ST: Nevada
IN: CPR MLM NET SEM
SU: TDS PDT
BM-CC
-- LAM047 --
0950 05/10/2004 08:31 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
