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Broadcom Gives Skype Users Freedom From the PCIRVINE, Calif., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broadcom Corporation , a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that the Broadcom(R) Wi-Fi(R) phone platform now supports Skype(TM) software and will be available to consumers in new Wi-Fi phone handsets from Buffalo. In the past, Skype users needed a PC to make Skype calls. Now, with the availability of wireless Internet phones, users can make calls at open Wi-Fi access points all over the world without being tied to a PC. "A Wi-Fi phone is more flexible and useful than a traditional analog phone because it uses Internet Protocol (IP) as the underlying technology and can communicate with other devices on the network," said Monika Gupta, Senior Product Marketing Manager of Broadcom's Consumer VoIP products. "Consumers can now be part of the Skype community -- scroll through their contacts, see who is online, make free Skype-to-Skype calls -- all without sitting in front of the PC." "Wi-Fi access is everywhere -- in homes, offices, campuses, coffee shops," said Manrique Brenes, Director of Hardware for Skype. "A Skype Wi-Fi phone gives people the freedom to connect to the 136 million family and friends already using Skype anywhere in the world." "Broadcom is the ideal chip vendor to unite Wi-Fi and VoIP on a single platform, given the company's leadership and continued innovation in both technologies," said Hajime Nakai, General Manager, Broadband Solutions Business Unit, Buffalo Inc. "The Wi-Fi phone platform delivers best-in-class battery life, voice quality and range and is a logical choice for Buffalo, as several of our existing wireless networking products are supported by Broadcom Wi-Fi solutions." Buffalo's Wi-Fi Phone for Skype The Buffalo Wi-Fi phone for Skype enables free Internet calling to other Skype users and supports traditional calling to and from the public switched telephone network (PSTN) through the SkypeIn(TM) and SkypeOut(TM) offerings, using IEEE 802.11b/g wireless LAN connectivity and a high-speed Internet connection. The handset features include a high-resolution color display, speakerphone and Buffalo's AOSS easy configuration protocol. The Buffalo Wi-Fi phone will be Skype Certified(TM) and available for the Japanese market in November 2006. The handset comes with everything built-in to connect to Skype via any personal, business or free public Wi-Fi access point that does not require browser authentication. Broadcom's Wi-Fi phone reference design consists of the BCM1161 mobile VoIP processor and BCM4318E AirForce One(TM) 54g(R) chip. The BCM1161 integrates an ARM9(TM) CPU, an analog voice codec with a direct microphone and high-output speaker interface, a 2 megapixel camera interface, a 262k color LCD display interface, a polyphonic ringer and USB interface into a single-chip solution. The BCM4318E is Broadcom's smallest and most cost-effective 54g client solution, integrating a high-performance 2.4 GHz radio, IEEE 802.11a/b/g baseband processor, medium access controller (MAC) and other components onto a single chip. Broadcom xChange(TM) VoIP software enables the BCM1161 VoIP processor to transport toll-quality voice through the use of sophisticated algorithms, which are field tested and proven for robustness and quality. The software architecture is a key differentiator for the Broadcom Wi-Fi phone platform, because it leverages the company's years of VoIP experience and includes specialized enhancements for delivering VoWLAN. xChange is a modular software architecture that is used across all of Broadcom's VoIP silicon platforms including Wi-Fi and desktop Ethernet IP phones, residential terminal adapters, and voice-enabled cable and DSL residential gateways, and is widely adopted in the industry with millions of units shipped to date. The BCM4318E and BCM1161 devices are shipping in production today, and together with Broadcom xChange VoIP and OneDriver(TM) software, feature support for the latest quality of service (QoS), security and power save standards (e.g. WMM, WPA2, WMM-UAPSD), and enable a complete Wi-Fi phone solution. Skype, in a Wi-Fi phone, computer or any other device, is not a replacement for a traditional telephone and cannot be used for emergency calling. 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/. Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: 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. Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with VoIP products include, but are not limited to, general economic and political conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address, including the volatility in the technology sector and semiconductor industry, trends in the broadband communications markets in various geographic regions, including seasonality in sales of consumer products into which our products are incorporated, and possible disruption in commercial activities related to terrorist activity or armed conflict in the United States and other locations; uncertainties as a result of the company's previously-disclosed ongoing review of its practices in respect of options/equity grants to employees, and the publicized more general review of option grant practices throughout the technology and other industries by public regulatory bodies, and potential changes in accounting and other practices resulting therefrom; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's technologies and products in the markets for VoIP applications; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in those markets; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the ability of our customers, to manage inventory; the gain or loss of a key customer, design win or order; our ability to scale our operations in response to changes in demand for our existing products and services or demand for new products requested by our customers; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims and other types of litigation risk; our ability to specify, develop or acquire, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a cost-effective and timely manner; our ability to retain, recruit and hire key executives, technical personnel and other employees in the positions and numbers, with the experience and capabilities, and at the compensation levels needed to implement our business and product plans; problems or delays that we may face in shifting our products to smaller geometry process technologies and in achieving higher levels of design integration; competitive pressures and other factors such as the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification; our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and evolving industry standards and to identify opportunities in new markets; changes in our product or customer mix; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; the availability and pricing of third party semiconductor foundry, assembly and test capacity and raw materials; fluctuations in the manufacturing yields of our third party semiconductor foundries and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products; the risks of producing products with new suppliers and at new fabrication and assembly facilities; the quality of our products and any remediation costs; the effectiveness of our expense and product cost control and reduction efforts; the risks and uncertainties associated with our international operations, particularly in light of recent events; the effects of natural disasters, public health emergencies, international conflicts and other events beyond our control; the level of orders received that can be shipped in a fiscal quarter; and other factors. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as other important risk factors that could contribute to such differences or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of this date. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason. Skype is not a replacement for your ordinary telephone and cannot be used for emergency calling. Broadcom(R), the pulse logo, Connecting everything(R), the Connecting everything logo, 54g(R), AirForce One(TM), OneDriver(TM) and xChange(TM) are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States certain other countries and/or the EU. Wi-Fi(R) is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Skype, SkypeIn, SkypeOut, Skype Me, Skype Certified, Skypecasts, associated logos and the "S" symbol are trademarks of Skype Limited. Any trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Broadcom Trade Press Contact Broadcom Technical Contact Gennis Lafayette Monika Gupta Public Relations Manager Senior Product Marketing Manager 408-543-3413 949-926-7111 [email protected] [email protected] Broadcom Investor Relations Contact T. Peter Andrew Vice President, Investor Relations 949-926-5663 [email protected] Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060609/BROADCOMLOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, [email protected] Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Mobile & Wireless CONTACT: Trade Press, Gennis Lafayette, Public Relations Manager,+1-408-543-3413, [email protected], or Technical, Monika Gupta, SeniorProduct Marketing Manager, +1-949-926-7111, [email protected], or InvestorRelations, T. Peter Andrew, Vice President, Investor Relations,+1-949-926-5663, [email protected], all of Broadcom Corporation Web site: http://www.broadcom.com/ |