• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Broadcom Switch Enables First Simultaneous 1 Gigabit Ethernet and 2.5 Gigabit Server Blade Connectivity Using Existing GbE Infrastructure

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 April 2006, 09:00 CDT

GARDEN GROVE, Calif., April 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- (Server Blade Summit) Broadcom Corporation , a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced a new 16-port 2.5 Gigabit single-chip switch that uses existing Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) network infrastructure to deliver simultaneous 1 Gigabit Ethernet (1GbE) and 2.5 Gigabit connectivity in blade servers. The new Broadcom(R) StrataXGS(R) III 2.5 Gigabit switch works in conjunction with Broadcom's popular NetXtreme(R) II converged network interface controller (C-NIC) to provide the industry's only 2.5 Gigabit end-to-end networking infrastructure solution that is optimized for blade servers.

IT managers need to add capacity to existing 1GbE blade servers to effectively handle the increase in the converged network traffic (i.e. IP-based storage, clustering, management and data networking) that is creating a bottleneck in today's network. Broadcom's new 2.5 Gigabit switch addresses this problem by providing more than two times the bandwidth of 1GbE, while offering features such as low latency, multi-layer switching, IPv6 routing, and deep-packet inspection, which are crucial for network management and quality of service (QoS).

"By delivering this new technology, Broadcom is responding to customer demand for a cost-effective speed upgrade to 2.5 Gigabit 'inside the box' for currently deployed 1 Gigabit blade servers," said John Mui, Product Line Manager of Broadcom's Network Switching Business Unit. "The real value is that Broadcom is enabling the additional speed, while protecting our customers' IT investment by utilizing the existing backplane hardware."

Announced today is the StrataXGS III BCM56580, a 16-port 2.5 Gigabit/1GbE multi-layer single-chip switch that includes 4 ports of 10GbE. The device features auto-negotiation of both 1GbE and 2.5 Gigabit, which allows each port to simultaneously support either 1GbE or 2.5 Gigabit speeds, and enables individual deployment of blades in a plug-and-play fashion. Also featured within the BCM56580 is the Broadcom ContentAware(TM) engine, which provides deep-packet inspection (Layers 2 - 7), allowing the switch to identify and prioritize various types of traffic including IP-based storage, clustering, management and data networking.

The StrataXGS III BCM56580 provides key features required for blade servers including:

* Cut-through switching for reduced overall system latency * Integrated SerDes and on-chip buffer and table memory that reduce bill of materials (BOM) cost and save board space * Eight classes of service (CoS) per port for traffic prioritization * Full IPv6 routing support for streamlined network management * Advanced QoS for converged networking applications

The new BCM56580 switch, when combined with Broadcom's BCM5708S NetXtreme II C-NIC, provides the industry's only 2.5 Gigabit end-to-end solution that can simultaneously perform storage networking, high-performance clustering, accelerated TCP/IP data networking and remote management pass-through, all over a single Ethernet fabric. This solution is being demonstrated this week at the Server Blade Summit, at the Hyatt Regency Orange County, Booth #401.

Availability

Broadcom's new StrataXGS III BCM56580 switch is currently sampling to customers and features a mature software API, which is currently supported by multiple third-party software vendors. Reference designs are also available to help speed time-to-market and include schematics, layout files and related documentation. Volume production of the BCM56580 is anticipated in July 2006 and product pricing is available upon request.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Our products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. Broadcom provides the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything(R).

Broadcom, one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies with annual revenue of more than $2.5 billion, is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at 1-949-450-8700 or at http://www.broadcom.com/.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

All statements included or incorporated by reference in this release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry and business, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us, all of which are subject to change. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipates,""expects,""intends,""plans,""predicts,""believes,""seeks,""estimates,""may,""will,""should,""would,""could,""potential,""continue,""ongoing," similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.

Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with StrataXGS switch products include, but are not limited to, general economic and political conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address, including the volatility in the technology sector and semiconductor industry, trends in the broadband communications markets in various geographic regions, including seasonality in sales of consumer products into which our products are incorporated, and possible disruption in commercial activities related to terrorist activity or armed conflict in the United States and other locations; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's technologies and products in the markets for enterprise networking applications; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in those markets; our ability to scale our operations in response to changes in demand for our existing products and services or demand for new products requested by our customers; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims and other types of litigation risk; the gain or loss of a key customer, design win or order; our dependence on a few significant customers for a substantial portion of our revenue; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the ability of our customers, to manage inventory; our ability to retain, recruit and hire key executives, technical personnel and other employees in the positions and numbers, with the experience and capabilities, and at the compensation levels needed to implement our business and product plans; the effectiveness of our expense and product cost control and reduction efforts; our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and evolving industry standards and to identify opportunities in new markets; our ability to specify, develop or acquire, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a cost-effective and timely manner; competitive pressures and other factors such as the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification; changes in our product or customer mix; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; the availability and pricing of third party semiconductor foundry and assembly capacity and raw materials; fluctuations in the manufacturing yields of our third party semiconductor foundries and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products; the risks of producing products with new suppliers and at new fabrication and assembly facilities; the effects of new and emerging technologies; problems or delays that we may face in shifting our products to smaller geometry process technologies and in achieving higher levels of design integration; the quality of our products and any remediation costs; the risks and uncertainties associated with our international operations, particularly in light of recent events; the effects of natural disasters, public health emergencies, international conflicts and other events beyond our control; the level of orders received that can be shipped in a fiscal quarter; and other factors.

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as other important risk factors that could contribute to such differences or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of this date. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason.

Broadcom(R), the pulse logo, Connecting everything(R), the Connecting everything logo, StrataXGS(R), NetXtreme(R) and Content Aware(TM) are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

Broadcom Trade Press Contact Broadcom Technical Contact Gennis Lafayette John Mui Public Relations Manager Product Line Manager 408-543-3413 408-922-5638 gennisl@broadcom.com jmui@broadcom.com Broadcom Investor Relations Contact T. Peter Andrew Vice President, Investor Relations 949-926-5663 andrewtp@broadcom.com

Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Enterprise Networking

CONTACT: Media, Gennis Lafayette, Public Relations Manager,+1-408-543-3413, gennisl@broadcom.com, or Technical, John Mui, Product LineManager, +1-408-922-5638, jmui@broadcom.com, or Investors, T. Peter Andrew,Vice President, Investor Relations, +1-949-926-5663, andrewtp@broadcom.com,all of Broadcom Corporation

Web site: http://www.broadcom.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

More News in this Category