Broadcom announces industry's first 10 Gbps millimeter wave SoC

IRVINE, USA: Broadcom Corp. announced a new single-chip millimeter wave (MMW) system on a chip (SoC) optimized for wireless backhaul and fronthaul applications.

For carriers looking for cost-effective and flexible products to meet the growing bandwidth demands of mobile broadband services, the BCM85100 offers a scalable option and up to 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps) of capacity. Broadcom will showcase its mobile innovations at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 24-27. For more news, visit Broadcom's Newsroom.

The acceleration of next generation cellular networks is creating new backhaul connectivity challenges and millimeter wave technology has started to play an increasingly important role in helping mitigate these challenges. The need for unified products that address various applications including macro cell backhaul, small cell backhaul and fronthaul are becoming paramount.

"The growing demand of data services and connected devices are all driving mobile backhaul networks to new heights of capacity, resulting in the need for more cell site connections," said Richard Webb, Infonetics Research directing analyst of Microwave and Carrier Wi-Fi.

"The millimeter wave solution represents the next step in addressing these capacity needs and is proving to be a viable solution for backhaul in metro areas where range limitations aren't always problematic. Reaching 10 Gbps is a major milestone for the industry and raises the bar as an integrated SoC that will further drive the millimeter wave market."

Broadcom's BCM85100 SoC enables easy capacity upgrades by software, making it the industry's first cost-effective product that offers the entire range from Mbps to 10 Gbps over single antenna, single channel and single polarization, providing carriers and telecomm equipment manufacturers with a unified millimeter wave solution.

"Broadcom is applying its leadership and expertise in microwave technology to provide new performance capabilities in millimeter wave solutions," said Dan Charash, Broadcom senior director and GM of Microwave. "With our new single chip MWW product, Broadcom is delivering a cost-effective solution carriers require to backhaul macro cells, small cells and cloud RAN to the core network."