Broadcom Announces World's First 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch-on-a-Chip - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, May 1, 2000

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq:BRCM), the leading developer of integrated circuits enabling broadband communications to and throughout the home and business, Tuesday announced the world's first 8-port Gigabit Ethernet switch-on-a-chip.

The Broadcom G-Switch achieves a new level of switching integration that makes it cost effective to bring Gigabit connectivity to the business-office desktop computer. Increasing the network bandwidth capacity to the desktop will enable companies to exchange larger graphics and imaging files, increase voice, video, and data/Internet traffic and conduct online business meetings and transactions, as well as to improve the Quality of Service (QoS) of voice/video transmission and other applications, such as Internet Protocol (IP) multicasting.

The 8 port BCM5680 G-Switch enables OEMs for the first time to build an 8-port switch for an end-user price of less than $200 per port. A switch based on Broadcom's solution only requires a single BCM5680. To achieve similar non-blocking performance and advanced line-rate filtering, a competitive solution today is three times the price of the Broadcom G-Switch solution and requires 25 to 33 devices.

"For just $200 per port, users can now opt for a Gigabit connection running at ten times the speed of Fast Ethernet," said Marty Colombatto, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Networking Business Unit. "Better still, we haven't compromised on performance or features to achieve this price point. The BCM5680 is capable of simultaneously switching, routing, and filtering packets on all 8 ports without blocking at Gigabit speeds."

According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the market for Gigabit Ethernet-based equipment is starting to take off, as sales reached $1.6 billion in 1999.

The BCM5680 represents the industry's first 8-port 10/100/1000BASE-T switch with on-chip packet buffering and multi-layer switching functions. Triple speed (10, 100 and 1000 Mbps) connectivity on every port enables the device to interface to all standard compliant Ethernet devices, including high-end workstations with Gigabit Ethernet connections as well as peripheral equipment with 10 Mbps Ethernet connections. The G-Switch is the first all-Gigabit member of the StrataSwitch Ethernet family, providing high-performance multi-layer switching support for prioritizing and transmitting voice, video and data applications.

On-chip packet buffering eliminates any requirement for external memory devices in the system design, which reduces the number of chips on the board, resulting in a lower cost and a higher performance solution. Advanced Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching and Layer 4-7 filtering enables the device to receive, prioritize, and forward packets of voice, video and data at wire speed simultaneously over all eight ports.

The chip incorporates Broadcom's ContentAware classification technology, which enables it to determine the traffic type. This traffic conditioning capability, in addition to the four Classes of Service (CoS), delivers QoS support to the network edge for time-delay sensitive or bandwidth demanding applications. The ability to switch, filter and modify packets allows the chip to support high performance Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications.

The BCM5680 can also be used in a stackable configuration to achieve higher port densities, supporting a maximum of 30 devices. This stacking capability enables multiple systems to be easily managed as a single virtual switch. Additionally, each of the eight ports can be aggregated to provide multi-gigabit links.

Broadcom also announced Tuesday its second generation Gigabit Copper transceiver (BCM5401), which supports all three Ethernet Speeds - 10, 100, and 1000 Mbps. When combined with the BCM5401, the BCM5680 allows networking system manufacturers for the first time to break the $200 per port price target for Gigabit Ethernet switches. Competitive solutions today are estimated at three times the price of Broadcom's solution.

BCM5680 Product Features The BCM5680 incorporates eight 10/100/1000 Ethernet Media Access Controllers (MACs), data packet memory, and a multi-layer non-blocking switching fabric into a single chip. The MACs are industry compliant with all applicable IEEE Ethernet standards. The data packet memory is configurable to be static and/or dynamically allocated to provide optimal performance.

The chip integrates all of the Layer 2 and 3 address and VLAN tables in addition to the packet buffer. The Layer 3 switching capability also operates at full wire speed, allowing a segmented network to route IP traffic at speeds 10 to 1000 times faster than a traditional routing chassis. A Layer 2-7 fast-filter processor (FFP) operating at line rates on all ports allows the BCM5680 to inspect and determine the content of each packet. All of the popular switch features such as link aggregation, port mirroring, IEEE 802.3x flow control, and per port RMON registers are also built into the chip.