Broadcom Announces Industry's First Quad 10GbE SFP+ PHY with MACsec

LOS ANGELES, March 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- OFC/NFOEC 2011 -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today unveiled its latest 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) physical layer (PHY) transceiver that supports the IEEE 802.1AE media access controller (MAC) security standard (known as MACsec) – a specification designed to safeguard connectionless data security, integrity and confidentiality for independent MAC protocols traveling between PC users and network servers and printers.

The new Broadcom® BCM84756 40nm CMOS Quad SFI-XFI10GbE transceiver sets a new threshold for performance and is the industry's first SFP+PHY supporting short reach (SR), long reach (LR), long reach over multi-mode fiber (LRM), and copper with full 802.1AE MACsec functionality. The addition of the BCM84756  also extends Broadcom's leadership portfolio of single, dual and quad channel SFP+ physical layer devices, employing its market proven technology to deliver secure communications over data center and enterprise networks.

Also included with the BCM84756 is a MACsec-enabled software development kit (SDK) that supports easy integration with Broadcom's market-leading portfolio of switch system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions.  Broadcom will demonstrate its latest optical solutions for wired networking at this week's Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (OFC), March 8-10, 2011 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Booth #1557.

Highlights/Key Facts:

• Companies, such as large investment firms, and medical and engineering companies, require reassurance that the data they send to their networks, and receive from their networks, is secure and has not been compromised.
• The Broadcom BCM84756 10GbE SFP-XFI transceiver with MACsec support is compliant with the IEEE 801.1AE standard.  It is targeted for 10GbE links in data center and enterprise systems that carry high bandwidth traffic (such as financial information, engineering designs and scientific data), and require MACsec data integrity.
• The IEEE 802.1AE MACsec standard helps to safeguard communications at different points in the network.  Unlike the Internet Protocol security (IPsec) standard that secures only IP data at the Ethernet level, the MACsec protocol effectively secures any type of data over Ethernet with the objective of authenticating the origin of data while protecting its integrity and confidentiality.
• The MACsec standard helps protect LAN devices from unauthorized communications, which in turn, helps to prevent disruptions to Ethernet networks.
• This device is part of a broad portfolio of 65nm and 40nm MACsec capable devices available from Broadcom, operating between 1 and 10Gbps, over a variety of physical layer interfaces.  
• The BCM84756 10GbE transceiver is now sampling to early access customers with production volume expected in calendar Q3 2011.

Supporting Quotes:

Brad Smith, Sr. Vice President and Industry Analyst, LightCounting Optical Market Research  

"Clearly, MACsec is needed as the next phase in the evolution of 10Gbps in the enterprise – not only for Ethernet but FCoE for storage as well.  Anything that can be done to increase the level of security and block unauthorized access will be welcomed by datacenter executives around the world as it is a leading issue of concern – especially given the scale of government sponsored attacks on individual companies.  Having consistent MACsec security across both copper and optical interfaces will insure market traction by what ever the physical media used is - 10GBASE-T Ethernet, SFP+ Direct Attach copper as well as SFP+ optical interfaces for servers and switches."

Lorenzo Longo, Vice President & General Manager, High-Speed Interconnect Products (HSIP)

Broadcom Corporation

"Our latest MACsec implementation provides IT managers with a secure, encrypted communications link capable of preventing intrusion attacks, wiretapping and other various threats to data integrity.  By leveraging our digital signal processing-based 10GbE SFP+ physical layer technology together with the integration of higher layer MACsec functionality, we are uniquely solving customer concerns by providing a low cost, high bandwidth, secure communications link that leverages proven low power CMOS process technology."

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About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a prominent technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications.  Broadcom products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment.  We provide the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and embedded 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®.

Broadcom, one of the world's largest fabless communications semiconductor companies, with 2010 revenue of $6.82 billion, holds more than 4,800 U.S. and 2,000 foreign patents, and has more than 7,800 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video, data and multimedia.

A FORTUNE 500® company, Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at +1.949.926.5000 or at www.broadcom.com.      

Cautions regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

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.  Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the demand for 10GbE transceivers that support MACsec , our position in that space, and the timing of volume production for the BCM84756 10GbE transceiver.  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 its BCM84756 10GbE transceiver include, but are not limited to:

• The rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's technologies and products;
• Delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in those markets; and
• 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.

Additional factors that may cause Broadcom's actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to the list that can be found at http://www.broadcom.com/press/additional_risk_factors/Q12011.php.

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, except as required by law.

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