- Realizing Gigabit connectivity for PCs, netbooks, tablets, smartphones, etc.
- Provides Wi-Fi connectivity boasting industry-leading speed and stability
- Achieves 3 times faster speed and 6 times greater power efficiency than 802.11n devices
- Perfect interoperability with existing 802.11 technology

February 21, 2012 – Broadcom, a global wired and wireless semiconductor company, announced that it will expand its leadership and momentum in 5G Wi-Fi chips with the launch of the BCM43460, the world's first enterprise 5G Wi-Fi System-on-Chip (SoC). Broadcom's newly released BCM43460 is designed to address the growing demand for gigabit speeds in enterprise and wireless cloud networks and telecommunications access. Based on the new 802.11ac standard, the BCM43460 SoC delivers three times faster speeds and six times greater power efficiency compared to existing 802.11n solutions, and is interoperable with existing 802.11 technologies.

Rajiv Ramaswami, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s Infrastructure and Networking Group, stated, “Enterprise networks are at the starting point of a new era of mobile computing where tablets and smartphones are everywhere in the workplace.” He added, “As a leader in developing the latest wireless technologies for the enterprise, Broadcom is providing the connectivity capabilities needed to meet the growing demands of the wireless workplace.”

According to a recent corporate survey conducted by market research firm Infonetics, employees worldwide are replacing desktops and laptops with smartphones and tablets, and IT departments have also begun connecting these mobile devices. As the deployment of many mobile devices and cloud-based enterprise networks is increasing at a steady and rapid pace, IT administrators are reviewing how to provide, protect, and control enterprise computing resources and information access.

Broadcom 5G Wi-Fi Features
As reliance on wireless networks increases, the explosion in demand for video services and the proliferation of wireless devices are placing a significant burden on existing 802.11a/b/g/n networks. 5G Wi-Fi addresses this issue by enabling mobile users to stream digital content between devices faster and drives new innovations by providing more stable coverage. It also saves battery life while allowing more wireless devices to connect to home and business networks. More information about 5G Wi-Fi can be found at www.broadcom.com or www.5gwifi.org .

New features optimized for businesses
Bandwidth-intensive content used in enterprises, such as video conferencing, and customer relationship management (CRM) applications require speeds comparable to Gigabit Ethernet and compatibility with centralized wired Gigabit speed networks.

The 2.4/5 GHz single-chip MAC/PHY/radio BCM43460 is suitable for enterprise and carrier-level access points, branch office routers, and business integration service routers. New features, such as Broadcom's innovative explicit/implicit transmission beam-forming technology, increase the range, coverage, and network efficiency of enterprise wireless networks, particularly in single-antenna devices like smartphones.

The new enterprise-centric airtime fairness feature supports environments with high density of Wi-Fi devices of various speeds and improves performance. The advanced spectrum analysis feature integrates real-time WLAN information and deep RF analysis to troubleshoot performance issues in real time. This feature is critical to enterprise operators as it enables granular monitoring of interference in the network, thereby providing stable and consistent wireless services. Furthermore, it realizes state-of-the-art security through industry-standardized systems supporting WPA, WPA2, hardware-accelerated AES encryption/decryption TKIP, and IEEE 802.1X.

End-to-end integrated networking
Broadcom’s FASTPATH® Unified Wireless Switching (UWS) and Unified Access Point (UAP) software provide a fully integrated solution for wireless LAN controllers, unified switches, and access points, along with 5G wireless devices. By combining industry-leading wireless LAN (WLAN) silicon, switch silicon, and networking software, Broadcom provides a complete platform that enables OEMs to deliver integrated wireless network solutions. High-density, low-power enterprise WLAN solutions provide network management, scalability, security, performance, and cost benefits comparable to wireless networks, while enabling seamless mobility around the office.

Industry Trends
• Enterprise mobile devices are expected to increase exponentially. Analysts predicted that mobility would be a major trend in enterprise networks in 2012.
• The demand for mobile content services is creating a need for faster and more reliable ways to access content through devices anytime and anywhere.
• Bandwidth-intensive content in the enterprise requires gigabit wireless connection speeds.

Key Features of BCM43460 SoC
• Dual-band (2.4 and 5 GHz) IEEE 802.11ac Draft 3 x 3 compliant SoC complete for MAC/PHY/Radio
• Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology doubles spectral efficiency.
• A fully integrated dual-band radio transceiver supports 3 × 3 antennas at a transmission rate of up to 1.3 ≈ Gbps.
• Embedded hardware accelerators improve system performance and enable a significant reduction in host CPU usage in access point configurations.
• The airtime fairness function enables the most effective use of channel time in client environments with a congested mix of speeds.
• Integrated FASTPATH UAP software provides a complete turnkey 11ac solution.

Broadcom is currently supplying samples of the BCM43460, and mass production is scheduled for the second half of 2012.

Matthias Machowinski, Principal Analyst for the Enterprise Network Business Unit at market research firm Infonetics, stated, “As mobile devices increase among users and enterprises centralize their data and applications in the cloud, enterprise wireless networks must evolve to provide faster throughput, higher capacity, and wider coverage,” adding, “802.11ac is this“It offers everything, and we expect companies to enthusiastically embrace this next-generation wireless technology once the product is launched on the market,” he said.

Swift Liu, Product Manager for the DataComm Product Line at Huawei’s Enterprise Networking Group, said, “As Wi-Fi enabled devices used in enterprise networks are growing rapidly, 11ac will become an essential technology for business in enterprise wireless LANs,” adding, “Huawei is pleased to have become an early partner with Broadcom to bring 11ac products into the enterprise market and to have promoted the development of the WLAN industry.”

In addition, Marc Randall, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Avaya Networking, stated, “The enterprise wireless LAN market will experience tremendous growth over the next five years due to the continued adoption of personal technologies within enterprises and the broadband demands of real-time collaboration applications.” He added, “The enhanced performance and throughput of 802.11ac enable enterprises to realize more on wireless networks, such as seamless high-definition voice and video streaming over Wi-Fi. We are pleased to continue our partnership with Broadcom to bring next-generation high-performance enterprise access points to the market. Our unique wireless segmentation technology will enable customers to easily perform high-bandwidth conversions.”