Broadcom Delivers EuroDOCSIS Cable Modem on a Chip; EuroDOCSIS Chip Provides Cost-Effective Broadband Delivery of IP Voice, Video and Data for the European Cable Market - Product Announcement

Cambridge Telcom Report, May 22, 2000

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq:BRCM), the leading provider of integrated circuits enabling high-speed broadband communications to and throughout the home and business, Tuesday announced the launch of the industry's most advanced single-chip EuroDOCSIS cable modem. This integrated chip is a critical step in enabling cost-effective EuroDOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) cable modems capable of delivering broadband voice, video and data into and throughout the home and office.

The Broadcom BCM3350 QAMLink Cable Modem chip has been engineered to support both the EuroDOCSIS and North American DOCSIS standards, allowing cable modem equipment manufacturers and European cable operators significant cost savings and time-to-market advantages. Broadcom's early support of the EuroDOCSIS standard has been validated by the strong participation of many other cable industry leaders at the initial phase of interoperability testing recently held at Ghent University. Interoperability of EuroDOCSIS modems will lead to the distribution of cable modems through retail channels. The key difference between the EuroDOCSIS and the North American DOCSIS standard is a change in the physical layer to support the European cable Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) specifications. According to the European Telecommunications Over Cable Operators Forum (TOCOF), major European cable operators that have endorsed the EuroDOCSIS standards represent over 12 million subscriber homes in Europe, with plans to deploy 650,000 cable modems in 2000, and 2.3 million cable modems by 2002.

"Similar to our efforts in the United States, Broadcom is committed to bringing broadband technology to the European market that promotes interoperability among equipment vendors," said Tim Lindenfelser, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Broadband Communications Business Unit. "With superior performance and multiple new features all delivered on a single chip, the BCM3350 clearly provides European cable equipment vendors with an integrated, standard-compliant solution that will help drive availability of EuroDOCSIS equipment in the retail channel."

The BCM3350 reduces cable modem cost and complexity by integrating into a single chip all of the major silicon components required for a cable modem. Key components in the chip include:

-- DOCSIS/EuroDOCSIS 1.0/1.1-based Media Access Controller (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY), providing all the real-time EuroDOCSIS/DOCSIS components in silicon, enabling Quality of Service (QoS) to support constant bit rate services like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and video streaming.

-- 80 MHz RISC CPU, providing all the necessary computational resources to run a real-time operating system and TCP/IP stack.

-- Universal Serial Bus (USB) transceiver, enabling an entirely new class of plug-and-play modems.

-- 10/100BASE-T Ethernet MAC and PHY, substantially reducing the cost of incorporating Ethernet capability on cable modems.

-- Full Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC) module, enabling product extensions for the rapidly growing Virtual Private Networking (VPN) market.

-- High-speed Time Division Multiplex (TDM) interfaces to support four voice channels or one video and two voice channels.

-- Optimized interface to Broadcom's HomePNA 2.0 silicon to enable the networking of voice, video and data over existing telephone lines in the home.

Because only slight modifications were needed to convert the DOCSIS standard to EuroDOCSIS, it is expected that interoperability testing will be completed relatively quickly in Europe. Similar to the independent testing done by Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs) in North America, Ghent University has begun independent interoperability tests for EuroDOCSIS products in Belgium. Thirteen cable modem equipment and chip suppliers, including Broadcom, were represented in the calibration tests recently begun by Ghent University. Plans call for the first wave of EuroDOCSIS product certifications to begin in June, with completion slated for July/August.

Broadcom also announced Tuesday a complete EuroDOCSIS cable modem reference design (the BCM93350E) based on the BCM3350 chip. The BCM93350E is a working EuroDOCSIS modem, with direct connections for 10/100 Mbps Ethernet and USB. Additionally, the BCM93350E provides home networking functionality, integrating Broadcom's HomePNA 2.0 iLine10 chipset (the BCM4210/BCM4100), enabling a single cable modem to support multiple PCs over a 10 Mbps telephony wire network distributed throughout the home. The BCM93350E comes with a complete development package, including schematics, bill of materials, Gerber files, software source code and dedicated applications engineering support, which enables vendors to productize a EuroDOCSIS cable modem and cable modem gateway.

Available today, the BCM3350 is packaged in a 352-pin BGA and is priced at $50 per chip for quantities of 10,000.

Broadcom Corporation is the leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband digital transmission of voice, video and data to and throughout the home and within the business enterprise. Using proprietary technologies and advanced design methodologies, the company designs, develops and supplies integrated circuits for a number of the most significant broadband communications markets, including the markets for cable set-top boxes, cable modems, high-speed office networks, home networking, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), residential broadband gateways, direct broadcast satellite and terrestrial digital broadcast, and digital subscriber line (xDSL). Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and may be contacted at 949/450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com. European customers may contact Broadcom's Netherlands office at 31 30 608 4500.