Broadcom's Home Networking Chips Win PC Magazine Award for Innovation and Technical Excellence

Business Wire, May 16, 2001

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2001

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq:BRCM), the leading provider of integrated circuits enabling broadband communications, announced that PC Magazine has awarded the Broadcom(R) iLine10(TM) HomePNA 2.0 chips its Innovation in Infrastructure (I(3)) award for the Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) category. After a detailed evaluation of networking products, PC Magazine editors selected Broadcom's home networking chips as the most innovative and technologically intriguing products in the SOHO category. The award was presented at the Networld Interop Show last week in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"I(3) finalists exemplify the best and most advanced of today's network infrastructure technologies and provide a window into the future of this critical area of computing," said PC Magazine editor Jeffrey Rothfeder. Referring to Broadcom's award-winning iLine(TM)10 chips, PC Magazine noted, "No other company does a better job of using invention and innovation to produce the chips and subassemblies that other companies use to create many final products that encourage the convergence of SOHO networking."

Based on the Home Phoneline Networking Alliance's (HomePNA) 2.0 standard, Broadcom's home networking silicon technology, called InsideLine(TM) (iLine), expands the bandwidth capacity of the phone line from kilobits to tens of megabits. Broadcom accomplishes this by using patented modulation and adaptive equalization techniques to transmit high speed signals across home phone lines, overcoming the random topologies and varying noise conditions commonly found in these types of networking environments. The chipset features a highly integrated MAC/PHY communications engine that delivers transmission speeds up to 32 Mbps.

"We are honored to receive this important award, and appreciate this validation of Broadcom's industry leadership in home networking technology," said Jeff Thermond, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Home Networking Business Unit. "But, this award is just as much a tribute to the more than 40 Broadcom customers who are building over 100 different products using iLine chips."

Broadcom's iLine HomePNA 2.0 family of chipsets is supplied to manufacturers of equipment for residential and small office/home office use, and is being incorporated into cable, DSL and V.90 modems, personal computers, set-top boxes, residential gateways and consumer electronic equipment.

Broadcom's iLine10 HomePNA 2.0 home networking technology is the conduit for sharing IP-based broadband services, such as Internet access and Voice over IP (VoIP) connections, throughout the home over a single, existing telephone line. Personal computers, entertainment equipment and other intelligent devices can all be easily networked using HomePNA 2.0. This technology also enables consumers to stream digital audio/video locally or off the Internet as well as share printers and other PC-based peripheral equipment. HomePNA 2.0 is unique in home networking technologies in that it has full Quality-of-Service (QoS) support for voice, audio, and video traffic. Broadcom has shipped almost 2 million iLine chips to this date, making HomePNA 2.0 one of the most successful home networking technologies on the market.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is the leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband communications and networking of voice, video and data services. Using proprietary technologies and advanced design methodologies, Broadcom designs, develops and supplies complete system-on-a-chip solutions and related applications for digital cable set-top boxes and cable modems, high-speed local, metropolitan and wide area and optical networks, home networking, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), carrier access, residential broadband gateways, direct broadcast satellite and terrestrial digital broadcast, digital subscriber lines (xDSL), wireless communications, SystemI/O(TM) server solutions and network processing. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and may be contacted at 949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation

Reform Act of 1995:

This release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, and reflect management's beliefs and certain assumptions made by us based upon information available to us at this time. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will" and variations of these words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. These statements speak only as of the date hereof. Such information is subject to change, and we will not necessarily inform you of such changes. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.