| Broadcom Corporation | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Type | Public NASDAQ: BRCM |
| Founded | August 1991 |
| Headquarters |  Irvine, California, USA |
| Key people | Henry Samueli, Co-founder, Chairman, CTO Henry Nicholas, Co-founder Scott A. A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its registered securities ( Stock, bonds, etc The NASDAQ (acronym of National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American Stock exchange. Irvine ( is an incorporated city in Orange County California, United States The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Henry Samueli (born September 20, 1954 in Buffalo New York) is co-founder and Chief technology officer of the Broadcom Corporation Henry Thompson Nicholas "Nick" III (b1959 is an American communications technology businessman. McGregor, CEO, President |
| Industry | Semiconductors |
| Revenue | $3. A chief executive officer ( CEO) or chief executive is typically the highest-ranking corporate officer ( executive) or administrator President is a Title leaders of Organizations companies, Trade unions universities, and countries. For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" A semiconductor' is a Solid material that has Electrical conductivity in between a conductor and an insulator; it can vary over that In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services 67 billion USDFY 2006 (▲ $901. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is a period used for calculating annual ("yearly" Financial statements in Businesses 5M Q1 2007) |
| Employees | 6,114 (2007) |
| Website | www.broadcom.com |
Broadcom Corporation is an American supplier of integrated circuits (ICs) for broadband communications. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Microchipsjpg|right|thumb|200px|Microchips ( EPROM memory with a transparent window showing the integrated circuit inside Founded in 1991 by Henry Samueli (chairman and CTO) and Henry Nicholas, it became a public company in 1998 and now employs over 6,000 people worldwide. Henry Samueli (born September 20, 1954 in Buffalo New York) is co-founder and Chief technology officer of the Broadcom Corporation Henry Thompson Nicholas "Nick" III (b1959 is an American communications technology businessman. A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its registered securities ( Stock, bonds, etc
Broadcom is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders. This article lists the top 20 largest semiconductor companies by sales leaders over the past 20 years
Contents |
History
Henry Samueli and Henry T. Nicholas III founded Broadcom in 1992 in Los Angeles. Henry Samueli (born September 20, 1954 in Buffalo New York) is co-founder and Chief technology officer of the Broadcom Corporation Henry Thompson Nicholas "Nick" III (b1959 is an American communications technology businessman. The company was moved to Irvine only three years later. [1]
Logo
The logo comprises bold black text upon a red waveform which takes a shape similar to a sinc function. In Mathematics, the sinc function, denoted by \scriptstyle\mathrm{sinc}(x\ and sometimes as \scriptstyle\mathrm{Sa}(x\ has two definitions sometimes
Products
Broadcom's product line spans computer and telecommunication networking: the company has products for enterprise/metropolitan high-speed networks, as well as products for SOHO (small-office, home-office) networks. A computer network is a group of interconnected Computers. Networks may be classified according to a wide variety of characteristics A telecommunications network is a network of Telecommunications links and nodes arranged so that messages may be passed from one part of the network to another over Products include transceiver and processor ICs for ethernet and wireless LANs, cable modems, digital subscriber line (DSL), servers, home networking devices (router, switches, port-concentators) and cellular phones (GSM/GPRS/EDGE/W-CDMA). A cable modem is a type of Modem that provides access to a data signal sent over the Cable television infrastructure GSM ( Global System for Mobile communications: originally from Groupe Spécial Mobile) is the most popular standard for Mobile phones in the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS is a Packet oriented Mobile Data Service available to users of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM and Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution ( EDGE) Enhanced GPRS ( EGPRS) or IMT Single Carrier ( IMT-SC) W-CDMA ( Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 3G Cellular network. It is also known for a series of high-speed encryption co-processors, offloading this processor intensive work to a dedicated chip, thus greatly speeding up any tasks that utilize encryption. This has many practical benefits for e-commerce, and PGP or GPG secure communications. Pretty Good Privacy (PGP is a Computer program that provides Cryptographic Privacy and Authentication. GNU Privacy Guard ( GnuPG or GPG) is a replacement for the PGP suite of cryptographic software
The company also produces ICs for carrier access equipment, audio/video processors for digital set-top boxes and digital video recorders, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi transceivers, and RF receivers/tuners for satellite TV. A set-top box (STB or set-top unit (STU is a device that connects to a Television and an external source of signal, turning the signal into A digital video recorder ( DVR) or personal video recorder ( PVR) is a device that records video in a digital format to a Disk drive or other Bluetooth is a wireless protocol utilizing short-range communications technology facilitating data transmission over short distances from fixed and/or mobile devices creating wireless Wi-Fi (ˈwaɪfaɪ is the trade name for the popular wireless technology used Satellite television is Television delivered by the means of Communications satellites as compared to conventional Terrestrial television and Cable Major customers include Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Dell, Lenovo, Linksys, Logitech, Nokia Siemens Networks, Cisco Systems and TiVo. Motorola Inc ( is an American, multinational Fortune 100, Telecommunications company based in Schaumburg Illinois. The multinational technology company Dell Inc develops manufactures sells and supports Personal computers and other computer-related products Lenovo Group Limited (,) is China's largest and the world's fourth largest Personal computer manufacturer after Hewlett-Packard and Dell of the U Linksys, founded in 1988 and acquired by Cisco Systems in 2003, is the leader in sales of home and small office network products Logitech International SA ( SWX: LOGN,) headquartered in Romanel-sur-Morges, Switzerland, is the Holding company for Logitech Nokia Siemens Networks is a telecommunications solutions supplier which was created as the result of a joint venture between Siemens AG 's COM division (minus its Enterprise TiVo (pronounced ˈtiːvoʊ is a brand of Digital video recorder (DVR in the United States, Canada, and Australia created by TiVo
Broadcom also authored its own VoIP codecs in 2002:
- BroadVoice 16 with declared bitrate 16 kbit/s and audio sampling frequency 8 kHz
- BroadVoice 32 with declared bitrate 32 kbit/s and sampling rate of 16 kHz (note hovewer that X-Lite SIP phone's menu declares bitrate 48000 b/s)
Consumer design wins
While Broadcom's primary business is strictly as an IC supplier to OEMs, the Broadcom moniker is known to home consumers through several high-profile consumer devices:
- Broadcom supplies the video processor chip for Apple's 5th generation iPod. An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM is typically a company that uses a component made by a second company in its own product or sells the product of the second company A moniker (or " monicker " is a Slang expression for a Nickname, Pseudonym, or Cognomen. Apple Inc, ( formerly Apple Computer Inc, is an American Multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing Consumer electronics iPod is a popular brand of Portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Inc
- In Q2 2005, Broadcom Corporation announced it would be providing Nintendo its “online solution on a chip” as deployed in millions of notebooks and PDAs across the globe, enabling Nintendo 802.11b connectivity with DS and 802.11g for the Wii. IEEE 80211b-1999 or 80211b, is an amendment to the IEEE 80211 specification that extended throughput to up to 11 Mbit/s using the same 2 The is a dual-screen Handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. IEEE 80211g-2003 or 80211g, is an amendment to the IEEE 80211 specification that extended throughput to up to 54 Mbit/s using the same 2 More specifically, Broadcom would provide Bluetooth connectivity for Wii's controller. Bluetooth is a wireless protocol utilizing short-range communications technology facilitating data transmission over short distances from fixed and/or mobile devices creating wireless
Broadcom and Linux
Some free source drivers are available for the 802. 11 B/G family of wireless chips Broadcom produces. [2]
Manufacturing
Broadcom is known as a fabless company. A fabless semiconductor company specializes in the design and sale of Hardware devices implemented on Semiconductor It outsources all semiconductor manufacturing to Asian merchant foundries, such as Chartered, SMIC, Silterra, TSMC, and UMC. Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to create chips the Integrated circuits that are present in everyday Electrical and electronic A foundry is a Factory which produces Metal Castings from either Ferrous or non-ferrous alloys Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (abbreviated CSM is the world's fourth largest dedicated independent Semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, ( Simplified Chinese: 中芯国际集成电路制造有限公司 (abbrev Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited ( Traditional Chinese: 台灣積體電路製造股份有限公司 abbrev UMC ( United Microelectronics Corporation) was founded as Taiwan's first Semiconductor company in 1980 as a spin-off of the government-sponsored institute ITRI The company is based in Irvine, California in the University Research Park on the University of California, Irvine campus, after a 2007 move from its previous campus near the Irvine Spectrum. Irvine ( is an incorporated city in Orange County California, United States The University of California Irvine is a public Coeducational Research university situated in Irvine, California. The Irvine Spectrum Center is an outdoor mall on the south-east edge of Irvine, California, centered on a large Edwards 21 Cinemas movie theater It also has other research and development sites in Silicon Valley and Bangalore, Hyderabad in India. For the valley nicknamed "Silicone Valley" see San Fernando Valley. Bangalore ( officially Bengaluru ( Kannada: ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು) is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country
Stock options scandal
On July 14, 2006, Broadcom announced it had to subtract $750,000,000 from earnings due to stock options irregularities. Events 1223 - Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father Philip II of France. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Options are financial instruments that convey the right but not the obligation to engage in a future transaction on some Underlying security, or in a Futures On September 8, 2006 the amount was doubled to $1. Events 70 - Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem. 1264 - The Statute of Kalisz Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. 5 billion. The company may also owe additional taxes. [3] On January 24, 2007, it announced a restatement of its financial results from 1998 to 2003 that totaled $2. Events 41 - Gaius Caesar (Caligula, known for his eccentricity and cruel Despotism, is Assassinated by his disgruntled Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. 24 billion.
On May 15, 2008, Samueli , Broadcom CTO, resigned as chairman of the board and took of a leave of absence as Chief Technology Officer after being named in a civil complaint by the SEC. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (commonly known as the SEC) is an independent agency of the United States government which holds primary responsibility
On June 5, 2008, Broadcom co-founder and former CEO Henry Nicholas was indicted on charges of illegal stock-option backdating and of violations of federal narcotics laws. [4]
Qualcomm Suit
In June 2007, the U.S. International Trade Commission blocked the import of new cell phone models based on particular Qualcomm microchips. The United States International Trade Commission ( ITC) is an independent non- partisan, quasi- Judicial, federal agency of the United Qualcomm ( is a wireless telecommunications research and development company based in San Diego California They found that these Qualcomm microchips infringe patents owned by Broadcom. Qualcomm ( is a wireless telecommunications research and development company based in San Diego California Broadcom has also initiated patent litigation in U. S. courts over this issue.
At issue is software designed to extend battery life in chips while users make out-of-network calls. In October, an ITC administrative judge made an initial ruling that Qualcomm violated the Broadcom patent covering that feature and the commission later affirmed the decision.
Acquisitions
Through the years, Broadcom has acquired many smaller companies to quickly enter new markets.
| Date | Acquired Company | Amount | Expertise |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1999 | Maverick Networks | $104M in Stock | Multi-layer switches for corporate networks |
| April 1999 | Epigram | $316M in stock | home networking using POTS |
| June 1999 | Amedia | SOC design services | |
| August 1999 | HotHaus Technologies | $280M in stock | DSP software for VOIP |
| August 1999 | Altocom | $180M in stock | Softmodem software |
| January 2000 | BlueSteel Networks | $123M in stock | Security Processors |
| March 2000 | Digital Furnace Corp | $136M in stock | Data compression software |
| March 2000 | Stellar Semiconductor | $162M in stock | 3D graphics processors |
| June 2000 | Pivotal Technologies | $242M in stock | digital video chips |
| July 2000 | Innovent Systems | $500M in stock | blue-tooth radios |
| August 2000 | Puyallup Integrated Circuit Company | components for SOC chips | |
| July 2000 | Altima Communications | $533M in stock | networking chips |
| October 2000 | Newport Communications | $1240M in stock | 10Gbit Ethernet transceivers |
| October 2000 | Silicon Spice | $1000M in stock | DSP chips for VOIP |
| November 2000 | Element 14 | $594M in stock | DSL chipsets |
| December 2000 | Allayer Communications | $271M in stock | enterprise and optical networking chips |
| December 2000 | Sibyte | $2000M in stock | Broadband microprocessors |
| January 2001 | VisionTech, Ltd. Voice-over-Internet protocol ( VoIP, vɔɪp is a protocol optimized for the transmission of voice through the Internet Voice-over-Internet protocol ( VoIP, vɔɪp is a protocol optimized for the transmission of voice through the Internet | $777M in stock | MPEG-2 compression/decompression of PVRs |
| January 2001 | ServerWorks Corp. | $1003M in stock | system controllers for compute servers |
| July 2001 | PortaTec Corporation | next-generation portable devices | |
| July 2001 | Kimalink | circuits for wireless communications | |
| May 2002 | Mobilink Telecom, Inc. | 5. 6M shares of stock | base-band processor for cell-phones |
| March 2003 | Gadzoox Networks | $5. 8M in cash | Storage-area networks |
| January 2004 | RAIDCore, Inc. | $16. 5M in cash | software for RAID systems |
| April 2004 | M-Stream Inc. | $8. 7M in cash and 27000 shares of stock | technology to improve wireless reception |
| April 2004 | Sand Video, Inc. | $77. 5M in stock and $7. 4M in cash | video compression technology |
| April 2004 | WIDCOMM, Inc. | $49M in cash | software for Bluetooth systems |
| April 2004 | Zyray Wireless, Inc. | $96M in stock | Base-band processors for WCMDA |
| September 2004 | Alphamosaic, Ltd. | $123M in stock | video processors for mobile devices |
| February 2005 | Alliant Networks, Inc. | cellular gateway products | |
| March 2005 | Zeevo, Inc. | $26. 4M in cash and $2. 6M in stock | Bluetooth headset products |
| July 2005 | Siliquent Technologies, Inc. | $76M in cash | 10Gbit Ethernet interface controllers |
| October 2005 | Athena Semiconductors, Inc. | $21. 6M in cash | Digital TV tuners and Wifi technology |
| January 2006 | Sandburst Corporation | $75M in cash and $5M in stock | SOC chips for ethernet packet switching |
| November 2006 | LVL7 Systems, Inc. | $62M in cash | Networking software |
| May 2007 | Octalica, Inc. | $31M in cash | Provider of Multimedia Over Coax technology |
| June 2007 | Global Locate, Inc. | $146M in cash | Provider of Industry-Leading GPS Chips and Software |
A list of acquisitions is also provided here
References
- ^ Kotkin, Joel. "GRASS ROOTS BUSINESS; A Place To Please The Techies - New York Times", The New York Times, January 24, 1999. Retrieved on 2008-04-25. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1607 - Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
- ^ http://linuxwireless.sipsolutions.net/en/users/Drivers/b43
- ^ Broadcom's Options Bombshell. BusinessWeek (2006-09-09). BusinessWeek is a business Magazine published by McGraw-Hill. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1000 - Battle of Svolder, Viking Age. 1379 - Treaty of Neuberg, splitting the Austrian Retrieved on 2006-09-09. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1000 - Battle of Svolder, Viking Age. 1379 - Treaty of Neuberg, splitting the Austrian
- ^ Drugs, hookers and cranked customers: Ex-Broadcom boss indicted. The Register (2008-06-05). The Register (" El Reg " to its staff and readers is a British technology news and opinion website 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 70 - Titus and his Roman Legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem Retrieved on 2008-06-06. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1508 - Maximilian I Holy Roman Emperor, is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three-year
External links
- Broadcom homepage
- Broadcom Factsheet
- History of Broadcom corporation
- Broadcom WLAN Installation under SUSE
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