Broadcom Delivers Industry's Smallest Quad 10GBASE-T PHY

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

News Highlights:

• Delivers 50 percent lower power than previous generation
• Optimized as companion device to StrataXGS® Trident Switch Series
• Forward compatibility to 28 nanometer (nm) ensures scalability and preserves customer investments

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, today announced the availability of the industry's smallest quad 10GBASE-T physical layer transceiver (PHY). The BCM84848 second-generation 40nm 10GBASE-T PHY delivers 50 percent lower power in the industry's smallest footprint to enable next-generation 10GBASE-T Top-of-Rack switch platforms.¹ Visit www.broadcom.com to learn more.

As demands for greater processing power and performance impose on rack space, OEM and ODM system designers must reduce footprint and power consumption. Designed as a companion device to Broadcom's StrataXGS Trident Switch Series, the highly integrated BCM84848 PHY allows OEMs to implement Top-of-Rack switches with 48 ports of 10GBASE-T and four 40 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) QSFP uplinks while maintaining minimal depth of the platform, thus avoiding the dual row layout required with larger PHY packages.

Offering the industry's smallest footprint with a 23 x 23mm package, the BCM84848 PHY allows sufficient space for QSFP uplinks and 10GBASE-T RJ45 connectors, providing OEMs with a distinct competitive advantage. Forward compatibility to next-generation 28nm process ensures scalability and preserves customer investments, eliminating the need to redesign the board when moving to the next node. 

The BCM84848 PHY features Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) technology for multiple speeds including 10GBASE-T, 1000BASE-T and 100BASE-TX, expanding energy savings throughout the network by automatically reducing power consumption during periods of no activity. 

Key Features:

• Robust operation over 100 meter Category 6a cables with industry standard 4-pair magnetics
• Lower total cost of ownership with auto-negotiation that reduces system administration costs
• IEEE 1588v2 with one-step timestamp insertion provides high accuracy timing
• IEEE 802.1ae MACsec provides link layer security
• Supports multiple speeds including 10GBASE-T, 1000BASE-T and 100BASE-TX with EEE supported on all three speeds

Availability
The BCM84848 PHY is now sampling with production volume slated for the first quarter of 2013.  

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Quote:

Dr. Ali Abaye, Broadcom's Senior Director of Product Marketing, PHY
"With the BCM84848 PHY, Broadcom is delivering the industry's first single row top-of-rack design to maximize rack space and meet performance and scalability demands in high-density, cloud-scale and mega data center environments. Forward compatibility to the next node ensures scalability and protects customer investment while lowering overall cost of ownership."

Jag Bolaria, Senior Analyst, Linley Group
"With demands imposed by cloud-based services, networking infrastructure requires low power, high performance solutions optimized to accelerate network speeds. By enabling 48 ports of downlink and four QSFP uplinks in a compact single-row design, Broadcom is ahead of the competition in delivering the innovation required for next generation cloud-scale networking."

Resources:

¹50 percent reduction as compared to previous generation Broadcom 65nm PHYs

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 and embedded software solutions, Broadcom is changing the world by Connecting everything®. For more information, go to www.broadcom.com.

Broadcom®, the pulse logo, Connecting everything®, StrataXGS 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 Infrastructure & Networking