Broadcom Announces Octal 10GbE PHY

IRVINE, Calif. -- Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, today announced the industry’s first 10GbE eight-channel, front panel Ethernet physical layer transceiver (PHY). The new Broadcom® BCM84780 Octal SFI-XFI PHY establishes a new standard for higher bandwidth data center and enterprise network performance and server virtualization while reducing chip size and power by approximately 25 percent. The addition of the BCM84780 extends Broadcom's industry-leading portfolio of single, dual, quad, and now octal channel SFP+ physical layer devices.

Consumer demand and traffic volume continues to rise for high-bandwidth applications such as streaming video and cloud computing. As the need for higher density processing and transmission of data rises, so does the need for data centers and enterprise networks to transition from 1GbE to 10GbE. According to The Linley Group, shipments of 10GbE ports are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 40 percent from 2010 to 2015.

Optimized for data centers and enterprise networks that are transitioning to 10GbE and server virtualization, the BCM84780 octal PHY is approximately 25 percent smaller with lower power per port compared to other solutions that are currently available. The PHY features eight fully independent channels with IEEE 1588 timestamping. It also incorporates EDC that enables data to be transmitted on a 10GbE serial interface for applications that require transmission over multimode fiber (MMF) at distances up to 300m (LRM) using OM3 fiber and SFP+ copper twin-axial cable (CR).

Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM)