Broadcom and Avago Technologies Announce Advanced Features and New Price Points to Drive Bluetooth® Laser Mouse Products
Joint Reference Design Combines Best-in-Class Laser Navigation Sensors and Bluetooth to Enable High Performance Wireless Mice for Mass Market Adoption
IRVINE, Calif. and SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct 22, 2007 - Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, and Avago Technologies, a leading supplier of analog interface components for communications, industrial and consumer applications, today jointly announced a new low cost reference design platform for building laser mice based on Bluetooth® technology. The new reference design combines Broadcom's industry-leading Bluetooth silicon and software with Avago's revolutionary LaserStream(TM) mouse sensor technology, reducing the number of required components while simplifying the design process.
The Broadcom®/Avago(TM) reference design enables manufacturers to build full-featured Bluetooth laser mice at a cost that is substantially less than the cost of existing solutions. Laser mouse products based on this reference design will offer high quality performance, one-click pairing (enabled by Broadcom software) and over six months of battery life -- providing an ideal travel mouse solution for Bluetooth-enabled notebook PCs.
Bluetooth laser mice are increasingly popular because they provide more precise tracking over a variety of surfaces without the hassle of cords or cables. This is especially important for those who use mobile PCs in places where a suitable work surface is not always available. As a result, there is an increasing trend in the PC market for laser wireless mice that can track on many more surfaces than optical mice -- especially for mobile PCs and notebooks. Moreover, PC OEMs are now bundling Bluetooth wireless mice and other peripherals to provide a more complete computing system that interoperates and is optimized for use in today's smaller, faster and feature-rich PCs.
The Bluetooth laser mouse reference design includes a new navigation platform developed by Avago, and offers a wide range of high precision optical sensors that incorporate its LaserStream technology and Broadcom Bluetooth technology. This enables mouse manufacturers to build laser wireless mice with the most accurate control at a fraction of the current cost, as well as to offer low power operation that achieves more than six months of battery life. The reference design takes advantage of the fact that Bluetooth technology is already found in nearly 40 percent(i) of today's notebooks and has been developed and continually tuned to co-exist with Wi-Fi®, which also operates in the 2.4 GHz radio frequency, providing a superior user experience than other technologies used in wireless peripherals.
Avago, which pioneered optical sensing for mouse technology, and Broadcom are working with several of the world's leading device manufacturers to bring Bluetooth-enabled laser mice products to market. By leveraging highly integrated components and other cost saving techniques that reduce the overall system cost for PC manufacturers, these partners expect to significantly reduce manufacturing costs.
"As the size and form factor of today's PCs continue to shrink, this miniaturization is driving the requirement for peripheral devices such as computer mice, keyboards and other related devices to be smaller and offer more features," said Kee-Hane Ngoh, Vice President and General Manager, Navigation Products Division, Avago Technologies. "By sharing our design resources and bringing together Avago's best-in-class LaserStream sensor and Broadcom's Bluetooth solution, our companies have set a new standard for laser mouse functionality and cost."
Combining and Enhancing Two Leading Technologies
The new Bluetooth reference design, co-developed by Broadcom and Avago, specifies everything a manufacturer needs to build a three-button laser mouse with a tilt scroll wheel. It incorporates Avago's patented LaserStream technology, which provides high performance and low power laser sensors that deliver fast and accurate mouse control. Utilizing Avago's new second generation LaserStream mouse input device, which is a highly integrated solution to increase productivity and yield rate, this design enables enhanced mouse tracking on glossy, metal, tile, marble and other smooth surfaces where LED-based optical mice are ineffective. Moreover, Avago's LaserStream mouse sensors feature lower power, enhanced mouse tracking and high sensitivity making it ideal for use in high performance PC applications.
Bluetooth is quickly proliferating into many PCs and human interface devices (HID), creating an ecosystem of products that can wirelessly connect for a variety of entertainment and communication applications. As the leading supplier of Bluetooth solutions for these consumer devices, Broadcom is continually improving the Bluetooth experience by making it simpler to use wireless products. The new laser mouse reference design features Broadcom software that allows users to pair Bluetooth devices to their PC with a single keystroke. The application is part of Broadcom's Bluetooth for Windows (BTW) software, which can be pre-installed by PC OEMs or shipped as a CD ROM for after-market installation.
"The value of Bluetooth connectivity increases exponentially for every device that is added to someone's personal area network," said Scott Bibaud, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Wireless Personal Area Networking line of business. "By collaborating with the world's leading supplier of mouse sensors, we are enabling device manufacturers to hit new price points that put high quality Bluetooth peripherals into the hands of more consumers."
Availability
The Bluetooth Laser Mouse reference design is available immediately.
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 2006 revenue of $3.67 billion, and holds over 2,300 U.S. and 1,000 foreign patents, more than 6,900 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video and data. 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.
About Avago Technologies
Avago Technologies is a leading supplier of analog interface components for communications, industrial and consumer applications. By leveraging its core competencies in III-V compound and silicon semiconductor design and processing, the company provides an extensive range of analog, mixed signal and optoelectronics components and subsystems to more than 40,000 customers. Backed by strong customer service support, the company's products serve four diverse end markets: industrial and automotive, wired infrastructure, wireless communications, and computer peripherals. Avago has a global employee presence and heritage of technical innovation dating back 40 years to its Hewlett-Packard roots.
Information about Avago is available on the Web at www.avagotech.com.
Broadcom Trade Press Contact
Henry Rael
Public Relations Manager
949-926-5734
hrael@broadcom.com
Avago Trade Press Contact
Alain Dangerfield
Press Relations Manager
408-435-6385
alain.dangerfield@avagotech.com
SOURCE Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Mobile & Wireless
http://www.broadcom.com
