Leading Wi-Fi(R) Chipmaker Drives Enterprise WLAN Adoption with an End-to-End Solution for Businesses Deploying 802.11n Networks
"Broadcom is building on the great success we have achieved with consumer 802.11n solutions to serve the untapped enterprise wireless market," said Michael Hurlston, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Wireless LAN line of business. "By marrying the industry's leading WLAN solutions with proven switch hardware and software, Broadcom is well-positioned to pursue the $2.3 billion enterprise wireless market with an end-to-end solution."(i)
Announced today are the Broadcom(R) BCM4342 single-chip 802.11n solution and BCM954342EAP enterprise access point reference design. The new solutions leverage FASTPATH Unified Access Point software to deliver the features that IT managers require across their wireless networks including robust security, quality of service (QoS), dynamic channel planning, and support for multiple basic service set identifiers (BSSIDs). The flexible design can be used for standalone access points, as well as for "thin" access points that are managed by a wireless switch or controller running Broadcom's FASTPATH Unified Wireless Switching software. This end-to-end platform provides centralized RF management, seamless mobility and wireless threat detection and prevention across the entire network. FASTPATH UAP eliminates the need for third-party software or in-house development, which can shave months off a manufacturer's development time.
"Mobility in the corporate work environment is a necessity and today's mobile workforce has come to expect wireless connectivity anywhere and at any time," said Martin Lund, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Network Switching line of business. "Enterprise customers demand more reliable, secure and manageable networks than what's needed in the consumer market. Given Broadcom's switching and WLAN expertise, combined with our networking software, our platform can meet these demands and unleash the power of 802.11n in business networks."
Solving PoE Issues to Drive Enterprise Adoption of 802.11n
Broadcom's BCM4342 Wi-Fi solution is also the first to successfully address power consumption issues that have slowed business adoption of 802.11n to date. Although dual-band 802.11n access points offer greater bandwidth and capacity than previous products, simultaneous operation of both radios has traditionally exceeded the power limits of the Power over Ethernet (PoE) equipment used in nearly all large networks. This forced IT managers to use two PoE ports for each access point, or upgrade their entire network to support the new PoE+ standard (IEEE 802.3at).
Using 65nm CMOS process technology, Broadcom's single-chip BCM4342 Wi-Fi solution consumes half the power of competing 802.11n chipsets, allowing access points to operate simultaneously on the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands while being powered by a company's existing PoE infrastructure. This can reduce the cost of deploying or upgrading enterprise networks to support advanced wireless applications such as high definition (HD) video surveillance, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and video conferencing.
In addition to reducing implementation costs, access points based on the BCM4342 will bring significant performance benefits to corporate Wi-Fi users. Broadcom's unique architecture delivers data rates of 300 Megabits per second (Mbps) and maintains wireless connections over a larger coverage area than other 802.11n solutions. Intensi-fi solutions also offer the greatest wireless capacity -- with three non-overlapping channels in the 2.4 GHz band and 24 non-overlapping channels in the 5 GHz band. This is especially important in enterprise networks, where IT managers rely on dual-band infrastructure to serve a large number of Wi-Fi users and accommodate latency-sensitive applications.
Technical Information
The BCM4342 is a complete system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution that accelerates time-to-market and reduces development costs for a variety of 802.11n access points. It combines an 802.11 medium access controller (MAC), a baseband processor, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios and other WLAN components onto a single silicon die. This high level of integration reduces the number of components required for a WLAN subsystem by two-thirds, which significantly reduces the footprint and lowers a manufacturer's bill of materials (BOM) cost. Broadcom is the only wireless LAN chipmaker delivering 65nm products, which provides distinct power, size and cost advantages over 90nm and 130nm solutions.
Availability and Pricing
The BCM4342 Wi-Fi solution and BCM954342EAP enterprise access point reference design are now sampling to early access customers, with production quantities expected to ship in the second quarter of 2008. Pricing is available upon request.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom(R) 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(R).
Broadcom is one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies, with 2007 revenue of $3.78 billion, and holds over 2,600 U.S. and 1,200 foreign patents, more than 7,450 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video, data and multimedia.
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 http://www.broadcom.com.
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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.
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(i) Dell'Oro Group Wireless LAN 5-year Forecast Report (January 2008)
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