Wireless Combination Chip enables peer-to-peer applications.
Press Release Summary:
Integrating 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and FM radio technologies, Model BCM4330 supports Android and Windows phones and is suited for systems that require long battery life such as wireless sensors and medical monitoring devices. Unit also incorporates ARM® Cortex(TM)-M3 processor, Power Management Unit, 2.4 and 5 GHz power amplifiers, and LNA. Support for Wi-Fi Direct enables devices to communicate directly with one another without having to interact with access point.
Original Press Release:
Broadcom's New Combo Chip Integrates 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 + HS and FM to Bring New Multimedia Applications to Smartphones, Tablets and Other Mobile Devices
New Broadcom® BCM4330 Expands the Wireless Ecosystem by Enabling New Peer-to-Peer Applications, Wireless Sensors and Monitoring
BARCELONA, Spain, -- Mobile World Congress -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced its newest wireless combination (combo) chip designed to support more media and data applications without impacting size or battery life for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. The BCM4330 integrates Broadcom's industry leading 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and FM radio technologies on a single silicon die providing significant cost, size, power and performance advantages over discrete semiconductor implementations, making it ideal for mobile devices.
By implementing emerging standards in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the BCM4330 will support new and exciting applications. For example, Broadcom's BCM4330 is the industry's first combo chip solution certified with the Bluetooth 4.0 standard that integrates Bluetooth low energy (BLE). BLE enables an ultra-low power implementation of Bluetooth technology, making the BCM4330 the ideal solution for systems that require very long battery life such as wireless sensors, medical and fitness monitoring devices. The BCM4330 also supports Wi-Fi Direct(TM) and Bluetooth High Speed which enable mobile devices to communicate directly with each other without having to connect first to an access point and be part of a traditional network, thus creating many new wireless device-to-device applications and usage models.
Broadcom continues to support every major operating system (OS) platform, from Microsoft Windows and Windows Phone to Google Chrome, Android and beyond, not only with the BCM4330, but with all Bluetooth, WLAN and GPS chipsets.
The BCM4330 is in production and will be demonstrated this week at the 2011 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
Highlights/Key Facts:
-- The BCM4330 provides a small form-factor solution with minimal external components to keep the cost down for mass volumes and allow for flexibility in size, form-factor and functionality
-- The BCM4330's extreme integration reduces power consumption and makes the overall solution size over 40 percent smaller than its predecessor
-- Broadcom continues to support its widely deployed Bluetooth stack and software for Android offering a carrier hardened stack, rich with many Bluetooth profiles, which now includes BLE support for next generation sensor applications
-- Software and hardware support for WAPI -- the Chinese security protocol that enables OEMs to address the growing market for Internet connected handsets in China
-- In addition, both Android and Windows Phone distributions feature support for 'Soft Access Point' - which allows the Wi-Fi component in a client device (such as a notebook computer or smartphone) to function as an access point enabling the sharing of wireless broadband with other devices
-- An integrated ARM® Cortex(TM)-M3 processor and on-chip memory for complete WLAN subsystem functionality that minimizes the need to wake-up the application processor for standard WLAN functions. This allows for further minimization of power consumption, while maintaining the ability to perform field upgrades with future features
-- Broadcom's SmartAudio® technology offers Wide Band Speech (WBS), Packet Loss Concealment (PLC) and Bit Error Correction (BEC) to dramatically improve Bluetooth voice and audio quality
Supporting Quotes:
Philip Solis, Research Director for ABI Research:
"Combination chips have gained tremendous traction as more manufacturers add multiple wireless features to mobile phones and other handheld devices, including tablets, and will account for nearly 350 million of all wireless connectivity solutions shipped in 2015. Broadcom already controls a significant share of the wireless connectivity market within the rapidly expanding Android smartphone market. We estimate Broadcom's integrated single chip combo devices were used in greater than 70 percent of Wi-Fi/Bluetooth enabled Android handset shipments in Q3'10."
Chris Bergey, Vice President of Broadcom's Mobility WLAN line of business:
"Handset manufacturers are excited about the opportunities that Wi-Fi Direct and Bluetooth 4.0 bring to applications developed for the burgeoning smartphone and tablet markets. The BCM4330 is yet another example of how Broadcom is not only driving, but leading the industry in combo chips by enabling next generation products specifically for mobile devices by providing significant cost, size, power and performance advantages over discrete semiconductor implementations, making it ideal for handheld electronics."
Robert Rango, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Broadcom's Mobile and Wireless Connectivity Group:
"Broadcom continues to support every major operating system (OS) platform. For Android based products we are expecting the Android ecosystem to find many new and exciting usages for BLE. Developers have shown an amazing creativity and we expect the deployment of BLE capable handsets in an open OS environment to delight consumers as they're deployed. We are continuing our long-term commitment to Windows Mobile Phone 7 and to work closely with Microsoft on further enhancements for the Windows Mobile platform. Broadcom's wireless combo solutions are used in most of the Windows Phone 7 products shipped to date. The addition of Nokia to the Windows Phone ecosystem is very exciting for us, as it could drastically increase the addressable market for this platform."
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, one of the world's largest fabless communications semiconductor companies, with 2010 revenue of $6.82 billion, holds more than 4,800 U.S. and 2,000 foreign patents, and has more than 7,800 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video, data and multimedia.
A FORTUNE 500® company, 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.
Broadcom®, the pulse logo, Connecting everything®, the Connecting everything logo, SmartAudio®, and OneDriver(TM) are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT: Trade Press, Jessica Sandifer, Public Relations Representative, +1-604-233-9358, jsandifer@broadcom.com
Web Site: www.broadcom.com
