Broadcom Introduces New Persona™ IP Communications Platform Enabling High Performance, Low Cost, Low Power Products for All IP Phone Segments

New Platform Delivers Superior VoIP and Proven Multimedia Performance Bringing an Innovative User Experience to the Enterprise and Residence

IRVINE, Calif. -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced a new scalable Internet protocol (IP) communications design platform featuring advanced 65 nanometer IP communications processors that enable a full range of high performance, low power, low cost products for next generation IP phones and multimedia terminals. The new Broadcom® Persona™ design platform, based on its flagship BCM11107 VoIP processor, enables enterprise and consumer IP phones to offer multimedia capabilities, premium audio, robust Ethernet switching, enhanced security and extensive peripheral support.

As enterprise telephony transitions from digital infrastructure to IP-based communications, phone manufacturers are challenged to deliver distinct feature sets for a range of IP device categories from low-end, value phones to high-end multimedia terminals with user interfaces and advanced applications similar to today’s popular smartphones. At the same time, economic and environmental concerns are forcing manufacturers to generate lower cost IP phone designs that serve the growing demand for greener solutions. The Persona platform addresses these trends, enabling customers to design a full line of IP phones and multimedia appliances with the cutting-edge features, robust security, low power consumption and proven Gigabit Ethernet capabilities that enterprise markets require.

“Next generation IP phones are positioned to become the central communications portal of both the office and home, enabling users with advanced applications to take advantage of multimedia features, streaming video and touch screen interfaces,” said Martyn Humphries, Vice President & General Manager for Broadcom’s VoIP line of business. “Multimedia functionality should ultimately increase user efficiency, and productivity thereby accelerating high quality, advanced IP communications devices in the enterprise and a high quality experience in the home.”

Persona Technology Overview

Based on third generation IP communications technology, the Persona platform offers feature-enhanced IP phone system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for each product segment. This includes the Broadcom BCM11107 for higher end Gigabit multimedia telephony applications, the BCM11109 for mainstream Gigabit enterprise applications, and the BCM11170 for value-line and low-end enterprise, small-to-medium-sized business (SMB) and small office/home office (SoHo) applications. Utilizing pin-compatible Persona devices, manufacturers can leverage a common hardware design and printed circuit boards (PCBs) across multiple products, thereby reducing overall component and manufacturing costs while streamlining software and hardware resources.

Each single-chip Persona device features a Gigabit or Fast Ethernet switch with packet filtering capabilities and physical layer devices (PHYs) to support high-speed networks, super-wideband capable analog audio codecs, and high performance applications and digital signal processors which support Broadcom’s popular PhonexChange™ IP telephony software suite. PhonexChange is a flexible software platform used across all Broadcom® IP phone solutions, allowing IP phone customers to leverage a common software code base across product portfolios, which in turn, minimizes engineering development resources, and time-to-market. The software suite includes a standards based Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) signaling stack, Broadcom’s high fidelity SmartAudio® voice enhancement technology, multimedia and video telephony modules, provisioning and security software, along with other key components required to build Ethernet IP phone products. PhonexChange also includes built-in support for Broadcom’s industry-leading Bluetooth® and Wi-Fi® connectivity products, allowing OEMs to add best-in-class wireless technologies to expand functionality for next generation products.

SmartAudio is Broadcom’s innovative audio clarity technology that significantly improves audio quality over IP networks. It includes the company’s high quality acoustic echo cancellation, advanced Jitter Buffer, high definition voice speech technologies and packet loss concealment (PLC) which compensates for lost data packets ensuring the delivery of clear digital voice communications.

The Persona platform requires 30 percent less power than competitive solutions, meeting the growing demand for “green phone” products, and enabling OEMs to build Class II Gigabit Multimedia Ethernet phones and Class I Fast Ethernet IP phones. The devices further leverage advanced power down modes to appropriately manage power consumption during system standby, idle or low usage periods enabling end products which comply with green initiative standards. The platform also utilizes packaging materials free of lead and certain other toxins, enabling greener SoC products for the scalable VoIP market.

Enabling Diverse IP Communications Applications

Broadcom technology already enables unique user interfaces on popular smartphone handsets and MP3 players, and now delivers these popular features to IP communications products. The Persona processor enables these compelling user experiences while providing an electrical bill-of-materials (BOM) cost savings of almost 26 percent for mainstream Enterprise high volume IP phones. The combination of the BCM11107 processor and PhonexChange firmware also delivers security enhanced packet processing, security enhanced voice processing and switching technologies that provide the quality of service (QoS) and reliability necessary for enterprise telephony applications.

The BCM11107 processor features multimedia capabilities that integrates an LCD controller, video decode capabilities, and support for sharp 2D graphics. In conjunction with the BCM11181 multimedia co-processor, the BCM11107 enables video conferencing and stellar 3D graphics. The BCM11181 co-processor is based on Broadcom’s successful BCM2727 mobile multimedia processor and VideoCore® multimedia architecture that has shipped in over 25 million mobile products to date.

Availability and Pricing

The BCM11107, BCM11109, BCM11170 and BCM11181 Persona platform processors, PhonexChange firmware, reference designs and development kits are now sampling to early access customers. 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 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 is one of the world’s largest fabless semiconductor companies, with 2008 revenue of $4.66 billion, and holds over 3,100 U.S. and over 1,400 foreign patents, more than 7,600 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 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 enterprise VoIP products requiring multimedia or video, our position in that market, the impact of our products on human health and the environment and the timing of volume production for the Persona platform. 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 Persona platform include, but are not limited to

-- The rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt
Broadcom’s technologies and products in the markets;
-- Delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in those
markets;
-- The gain or loss of a key customer, design win or order;
-- Our ability to specify, develop or acquire, complete, introduce, market
and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a
cost- effective and timely manner;
-- Our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and
evolving industry standards and to identify opportunities in new
markets; and
-- The timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our
products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification.


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/Q12009.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, the Connecting everything logo, BroadVoice, SmartAudio, VideoCore, Persona™ and PhonexChange™ are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. Bluetooth is a trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.