Broadcom Announces Bluetooth Smart Chips for Peripheral Devices

IRVINE, Calif., May 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

News Highlights:

• Designed to reduce overall OEM costs in broad category of companion devices
• Enable voice search capabilities for home entertainment remote controls
• Enable successful connections for the latest keyboards and mice with new and previous generation computing devices

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, today introduced two new Bluetooth^® Smart systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) that are cost-effective for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and enhance the consumer experience with home entertainment and mobile computing technology. For more news, visit Broadcom's Newsroom.

The ubiquitous presence of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth inside digital TVs, over-the-top (OTT) boxes, set-top boxes (STBs), PCs and tablets is leading to a parallel demand for smart devices such as remote controls, keyboards and mice. Broadcom's new Bluetooth Smart chips, the BCM20734 and BCM20738, apply the company's connectivity expertise to this growing market.

The BCM20738 is Broadcom's latest Bluetooth Smart product that lowers the overall bill of materials (BOM) for OEMs in a wide variety of peripherals. The BCM20734 reduces the cost of voice search capabilities on next-generation remote controls for OEMs by integrating analog to digital convertor (ADC) support directly on the Bluetooth Smart chip. It is also the first chip to support both Bluetooth Smart and Bluetooth Classic, enabling high performance even in connected homes with heavy traffic between devices. Consumers can enjoy a seamless connection and ideal experience between a new Bluetooth Smart-enabled keyboard or mouse and an existing PC, even if the model of the PC only supports Bluetooth Classic technology.

"Broadcom continues to innovate in the expanding Bluetooth Smart ecosystem," said Rahul Patel, Broadcom Vice President and General Manager, Wireless Connectivity Combos. "The new Bluetooth Smart chips for remote controls and peripherals are the ideal complement to our industry leading combo-chips in today's connected home products, delivering an enhanced experience to consumers at an affordable cost to OEMs."

Key Features:

• BCM20734 is the industry's first dual-mode chip that enables keyboards and mice to interact with computing platforms over either Bluetooth Smart or Bluetooth Classic
• BCM20734 integrates ADC support for voice search capability and reduces the BOM for OEMs
• BCM20738 offers OEMs a low-cost solution for single-mode Bluetooth Smart devices
• BCM20734 and BCM20738 do not require a second crystal to stay connected during longer periods of device inactivity for additional reduction in system cost
• BCM20734 and BCM20738 application development kits (ADKs) enable developers to create varied applications
• BCM20734 and BCM20738 support Windows and Android host devices

Availability
The Broadcom BCM20734 and BCM20738 Bluetooth Smart chips, reference designs and ADKs are currently sampling with customers.

For ongoing news, visit Broadcom's Newsroom, read the B-Connected Blog, or visit Facebook or Twitter. And to stay connected, subscribe to Broadcom's RSS Feed.

About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a FORTUNE 500® company, is a global leader and innovator in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom® products seamlessly deliver voice, video, data and multimedia connectivity in the home, office and mobile environments. With the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip solutions, Broadcom is changing the world by Connecting everything®. For more information, go to www.broadcom.com.

Broadcom^®, the pulse logo, Connecting everything® and the Connecting everything logo 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.

SOURCE Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Mobile & Wireless