Broadcom today announced the world’s first full-featured, single-chip 802.11n solution. Broadcom says their newest member of the Broadcom Intensi-fi product family is not only the smallest and most cost-effective 802.11n solution on the market, but is the first to enable Wi-Fi products to achieve over 200 Megabits per second (Mbps) of actual wireless throughput.
The Broadcom BCM4322 is said to be the only 802.11n solution that combines all of the elements of a wireless LAN (WLAN) subsystem onto a single silicon die, which is expected to drive down the price of 802.11n products and increase adoption. The chip’s small footprint enables manufacturers to add 802.11n to consumer electronics products that have never included WLAN functionality before, such as televisions, set-top boxes and camcorders.
“Our new Intensi-fi chip pushes the envelope of integration to help our customers deliver cutting-edge wireless features in smaller, more affordable devices,” said Michael Hurlston, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s WLAN line of business. “It also delivers a price point that will accelerate the adoption of 802.11n technology, removing all doubt that Wi-Fi will be the backbone of the digital home network.”
The BCM4322 wireless LAN chip is the second generation of Broadcom’s popular Intensi-fi technology that complies with the IEEE 802.11n draft 2.0 specification. It offers a maximum data rate of 300 Mbps with actual throughput of over 200 Mbps.
Utilizing 65 nanometer process technology, it is less than half the size of multi-chip 802.11n solutions and consumes up to 50 percent less power. It combines an 802.11 medium access controller (MAC), a baseband processor, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios and other WLAN components onto a single silicon die.
The BCM4322 is sampling now, with production quantities expected to ship in the first quarter of 2008.
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