Broadcom Unveils GPON ChipsBroadcom Unveils GPON Chips

PARIS -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced its first product offerings in the Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) market with a scalable family of products spanning from gigabit bridges to fully integrated access device (IAD) capabilities. Broadcom's GPON portfolio leverages their field proven processor, switch and physical layer (PHY) intellectual property cores, in conjunction with the industry's most widely deployed Linux(R) and voice over IP (VoIP) software suite, enabling Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) and Fiber-to-the-Node (FTTN) solutions. With today's announcement, Broadcom further completes its carrier access portfolio delivering highly integrated solutions for ADSL, VDSL and now GPON technologies.

Broadcom's new GPON solutions enable high definition (HD) video, VoIP, high-speed internet (HSI), gaming, and higher bandwidth provisional services such as video-on-demand (VoD) and rapid download of IP video content. FTTH and FTTN solutions can deliver much faster broadband speeds to the end-user than is possible over the existing copper access network allowing service providers to offer advanced triple play services.

The Broadcom(R) BCM6800 family of GPON gateway processors are designed to facilitate the realization of more cost effective optical network terminals (ONTs) or optical network units (ONUs) used in conjunction with service provider passive optical networks (PONs).

The product family provides unparalleled levels of integration utilizing Broadcom's high performance, 400 MHz dual core processor architecture, hardware-assisted gigabit bridging and routing, hardware-assisted IPsec security for virtual private network (VPN) termination, gigabit switch and PHYs, VoIP, support for USB 2.0 host and devices, and support for Broadcom's latest wireless LAN (WLAN) devices utilizing PCI Express(R). The BCM6800 family includes TR-069 and OMCI management software.

Another unique capability in Broadcom's GPON portfolio is the world's first integration of the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA(R)) standard which has already received MoCA 1.1 Certification from the MoCA Certification Board. The solution in the BCM6800 portfolio integrates a MoCA(R) media access controller (MAC), PHY transceiver and RF tuner which enable service providers (using GPON technology) to easily and cost effectively transform a subscriber's existing coax network into a home media distribution gateway. As a result, service providers that use coax for media distribution within the home can offer whole-home digital media services that allow subscribers to securely access, store and share multiple types of digital media content including HDTV programs, video-on-demand, digital video recorder (DVR) recordings, Internet content and VoIP.

Each solution within the BCM6800 product family leverages Broadcom's success in xDSL gateway chips and residential gateway software development and is designed in a 65 nanometer (nm) CMOS process that provides high integration, low power consumption, and small footprint size. Telecommunications carrier and OEM customers are able to preserve their software investment across multiple access technologies by leveraging Broadcom's field proven networking, management, Kernel, and VoIP software architectures used on all Broadcom ADSL, VDSL and PON subscriber products.

"Our entry into the GPON market complements our carrier access portfolio of highly integrated, versatile single-chip solutions for next generation broadband services by enabling gigabit networks and extending performance, cost and manageability of subscriber equipment," said Greg Fischer, Vice President & General Manager of Broadcom's Carrier Access line of business. "Our presence and commitment to the carrier market are well established with leadership in DSL, Ethernet and WLAN products. The global GPON standard provides next generation FTTH and FTTN opportunities and we look forward to extending our leading access technologies and investments in this area."

In a separate release:

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced its VDSL2-compliant Fiber-to-the-x (FTTx) line termination reference design featuring uncompromised chipset-level crosstalk cancellation technology. Vectoring or far end crosstalk (FEXT) cancellation significantly increases line performance by reducing the interference that originates from subscriber lines located in the same cable binder. Broadcom's unique technology accurately estimates and significantly reduces such crosstalk noise by processing feedback information from receivers located at the customer premises.

Broadcom's vectorized VDSL technology will enable service providers to increase capacity (throughput/data rates) on infrastructure equipment, extending the value of such equipment while offering a whole range of new broadband service opportunities in the further exploitation of copper telephone lines. This includes enriching bundled service offerings or even extending the reach of existing service packages (such as HDTV broadcasting, pay-per-view and on-demand entertainment) to many more households.

Combined with multiple line bonding technologies, vectorized VDSL can also significantly contribute to accelerating the availability of mobile broadband services (such as mobile TV, live video sharing, 3D gaming, Family Locator services and navigation) by enabling gigabit data rates over existing copper backhaul infrastructures, while also providing easier access to radio base stations upgraded with 3G HSPA and Long Term Evolution (LTE) in sometimes dense urban environments. These capabilities address the growing demand for mobile data generated by 3G, HSPA and LTE by providing a significant leap forward from the inadequate low speed synchronous backhaul technologies.

"We have been demonstrating this breakthrough technology using our end-to-end solutions since last year. By making it available in the form of a fully verified reference design, we've demonstrated our continued leadership in DSL product execution and our confidence to progress vectoring to standardization within the ITU and mass deployment in carrier networks worldwide," said Greg Fischer, Vice President & General Manager of Broadcom's Carrier Access line of business. "This reference design utilizes existing, commercially available Broadcom products, and when combined with software extensions for vectoring, enables our worldwide customer base to take full advantage of familiar tools to enhance the capabilities of their own products while achieving faster time-to-market."

Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM)