Broadcom Upgrades Its A-GPS Data Service and GPS LTO Product/Service with GLONASS Satellite Support

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced the upgrade of its Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) data service to support the delivery of GLONASS (the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System) assistance data for mobile and personal navigation device (PND) users. This service supports two new Broadcom® GPS system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions (announced earlier today) that feature dual constellation support for GPS and GLONASS:

• BCM47511 standalone GPS SoC solution
• BCM2076 super combination (combo) chip featuring integrated Bluetooth and FM tuner functionality.

In addition to this upgraded A-GPS service, Broadcom also announces that it has upgraded its current GPS Long Term Orbit (LTO) data product and service to support the GLONASS constellation starting with today's introduction of the BCM47511 and BCM2076 GPS SoC solutions.  LTO extends the usability of GPS and GLONASS assistance data for up to 7 days and ensures the fastest possible fix time in mobile wireless devices.  This augmented data service is a key element for realizing the full effectiveness of the GLONASS constellation and nearly doubles the number of satellites that can be used for navigation.

Highlights/Key Points:

• GLONASS is the Russian equivalent to the U.S. GPS system, and is a complementary and alternative satellite navigation system.  By adding GLONASS support, the BCM2076 and BCM47511 GPS receivers will have the ability to use an additional 21 GLONASS satellites currently (24 projected in the future), on top of the existing 30 U.S. GPS satellites, nearly doubling the number of satellites that can be used for navigation.  In urban areas, many GPS satellites are blocked by buildings, so the additional 21 satellites offered by the GLONASS system will provide significant improvements in location performance and accuracy over currently available GPS receivers.
• LTO data offers network traffic reduction benefits while improving the user experience.  GNSS receivers require a current set of GPS and GLONASS orbit data for a satellite's range measurements to be incorporated into a navigation solution.  Without LTO, GLONASS orbit data must be refreshed to a mobile wireless device every half hour (a notably shorter period than the 4 hour refresh requirement for GPS orbit data).  With LTO, both GLONASS and GPS orbit data is refreshed every 7 days, saving on network traffic and ensuring the best possible navigation performance.
  • Wireless devices with LTO functionality can provide an initial fix time within seconds, instead of the minutes that may be required to download orbit data from the satellites themselves.
  • In deep urban canyon environments where weak signal conditions often prohibit the refresh of GPS and GLONASS orbit data, LTO becomes a critical element for sustaining high-fidelity GPS/GLONASS navigation performance for users.
  • GLONASS orbit data is also supported in Broadcom's Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (AGNSS) server that enables fast, easy wireless downloads for devices with regular network access, or in use cases that don't require the extended performance that LTO allows.
• Broadcom's cutting-edge LTO location infrastructure provides 99.999 percent uptime and uses orbit modeling algorithms, integrity monitoring and operational protocols evolved from its original GPS LTO product, which has been in continuous commercial operation since 2002.  
  • Beginning in the first quarter of 2011, Broadcom's LTO infrastructure will serve approximately 2.3 billion LTO downloads every month -- a number that will grow on a weekly basis as devices and the use of location-based services both proliferate.
  • The Broadcom LTO product is part of the company's Location Based Services (LBS) and currently serves over 180 million mobile wireless devices worldwide -- a figure that will increase as the benefits of GLONASS become enabled by the Broadcom BCM47511 and BCM2076 GPS SoC solutions.
• The BCM47511 SoC solution is Broadcom's latest generation of standalone receivers, featuring both integrated GPS and GLONASS.  Since it is pin-for-pin compatible with Broadcom's popular BCM4751 SoC solution, customers can quickly upgrade their products to include GLONASS navigation support.
• The BCM2076 combo chip is a cutting edge Bluetooth + FM + GPS solution for portable and wireless devices that require Bluetooth, GPS, and a FM receiver/transmitter.  It offers audio, Bluetooth 4.0 and improved audio compression that reflects Broadcom's ongoing focus to improve the user experience.  The BCM2076 combo chip is backwards compatible with Broadcom's popular BCM2075 Bluetooth + FM receiver/transmitter.  

Supporting Quotes:

Scott Pomerantz, Vice President & General Manager, Broadcom's GPS line of business

"This latest upgrade to our A-GPS data service promises to significantly improve the user experience, providing almost twice the available satellites for navigation and helping to overcome the navigation challenges within urban environments."

Subscribe to RSS Feed: Broadcom Mobile & Wireless Group http://bit.ly/4BDSLs

Other Supporting Resources: – http://www.glonass-ianc.rsa.ru/pls/htmldb/f?p=202:1:767176166330533

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a major 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 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 Broadcom's Assisted-GPS and LTO products and services incorporating GLONASS and our ability to improve the satellite navigation user experience.  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 the BCM2076 GPS combo chip solution and the BCM47511 GPS standalone chip solution include, but are not limited to:

• the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's GPS technologies and products;
• our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and evolving industry standards and to identify opportunities in new 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.

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

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