IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broadcom Corporation , a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced its entry into the applications processor market, with a monolithic high performance system-on-a-chip that combines the industry leading Broadcom(R) VideoCore(R) multimedia processor and an ARM11(R) applications processor. The BCM2820 fully supports Linux(R) today, and is optimized for high volume markets including mobile phones, mobile TVs and portable audio/video/game devices, and delivers unprecedented level of integration, multimedia performance, and low power dissipation.
The increasing popularity of multimedia features in mobile phones and other portable devices is generating demand for high-end applications optimized to work with video and camera capabilities at price points affordable to mainstream consumers. The new BCM2820 applications processor offers an impressive array of multimedia features including support for an 8 mega-pixel digital camera, MPEG-4/H.264 VGA video decoding at 30 frames per second, video encoding at 30 frames per second, and NTSC/PAL TV output via composite, component and S-video connections.
"The market for mobile applications processors will exceed $5.5 Billion dollars in 2007," said Alan Varghese, Principal Analyst, ABI Research. "Broadcom's product portfolio of industry leading video processor engines, integration track record with other mobile technologies, and emphasis on software, can make it a strong player in this market."
The BCM2820 integrates industry standard interfaces with tightly coupled software drivers and stacks to support a wide range of wireless interfaces, including Broadcom's 3G EDGE, WEDGE and HEDGE cellular baseband processors, 802.11x wireless LAN processors and Bluetooth solutions. Wireless technology is driving the next evolution of advanced mobile multimedia devices and requires an increased sophistication of next generation mobile device software to ensure cutting-edge multimedia capabilities with optimal battery life and broad interoperability.
"The BCM2820 provides a significant breakthrough in technology integration for mobile handset and portable media player developers," said Mark Casey, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Mobile Multimedia business unit. "By extending our VideoCore technology into the applications processor market, we're simplifying the development of next generation mobile wireless devices, while saving space and power, and optimizing performance."
Two World-Class Devices in a Single Chip
Similar to the existing BCM27xx multimedia processor family, today's announced BCM2820 application processor chip is based on Broadcom's VideoCore video-processing engine, making all the chips in the BCM27xx family software compatible with the new BCM2820. Both families, 27xx and 28xx, remain completely programmable and able to handle a wide range of audio and video formats, offering maximum scalability and flexibility to Broadcom's OEM partners. The programmability of VideoCore technology enables developers to program or re-program different applications in software, rather than requiring new chip designs for each new mobile product. For further details on Broadcom products that feature VideoCore, visit http://www.broadcom.com/videocore.
What differentiates the BCM28xx family from previous BCM27xx products is the integration of an ARM11 embedded microprocessor core that serves as the host processor for advanced mobile device applications such as email, web browsing, file management and graphical user interfaces. Unlike competing solutions, Broadcom's embedded ARM core runs at up to 300MHz, but when coupled with up to 6 billion instructions per second of multimedia processing in the VideoCore processor, it typically needs to run at only less than 200MHz. In fact the BCM2820 runs as low as 10MHz during full H.264 video playback, thereby enabling excellent power consumption performance.
Complete Software Solution
The BCM2820 application processor can handle most software applications and operating systems available on mainstream mobile wireless devices. Together with the BCM2820 device, Broadcom also provides a host of Linux-based multimedia software that includes wireless LAN and Bluetooth stacks, audio and video CODECs such as MPEG4, H.264, Windows(R) Media, MP3, 3D audio and audio visualizations, slideshow transitions, image editing applications, 3D graphics acceleration, video camcorder applications with visual effects, WMDRM, MTP, PlaysForSure(TM), and drivers to support cellular baseband modems.
Customer BCM2820-based products will benefit from the ability to run open operating systems while at the same time harnessing Broadcom's industry leading multimedia and communications technologies including, but are not limited to, EDGE/WCDMA/HSDPA baseband processors, mobile multimedia, Bluetooth,Wi-Fi(R) and VoIP.
Availability
The BCM2820 is now sampling to early access customers and is available for $15 each in quantities of 10,000 units. Broadcom also offers a comprehensive development kit that features the BCM2820 that includes a Linux board support package (BSP) and a complete suite of multimedia Codecs and applications software to speed OEM product development.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Our products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. Broadcom provides 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, one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies with 2005 revenue of $2.67 billion, 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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