Even as the market for cell-phone processors has grown to more than one billion units per year, the same handful of companies continue to dominate this market. Drawing on their long-standing relationships and software lock-ins with the leading handset makers, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Freescale, and a few others supply nearly all cell-phone processors. Several vendors, including Intel, have tried to break into this market, but all have failed. Broadcom wants to be the exception to this rule. Over the past few years, the company has quietly built an extensive line of chips for cell phones and other mobile devices. These products are gaining design wins at top-tier handset makers, although shipments have been small so far. Can Broadcom succeed where others have failed? Let’s take a look at its technology. Baseband Technology The most important component of every cell phone is the baseband
processor, which controls how the phone connects to the cellular
network. Broadcom offers baseband processors, called CellAirity,
for both 2.75G networks (GSM/EDGE) and 3G networks (UMTS/WCDMA).
The 3G chips support HSDPA, a high-speed download technology that
is being deployed around the world. These chips supports HSDPA
at speeds of up to 7.6Mbps, matching industry leaders such as Qualcomm. Current CellAirity designs use common third-party radio chips. Using an Athens-based engineering team acquired in 2005, Broadcom has developed its own radio chips and plans to announce these devices later this year. The initial product will support GSM/EDGE, followed by a 3G radio for UMTS and HSPDA. Unlike competitive products, these devices are built in pure CMOS technology, reducing cost. More important, these CMOS radios can more easily be integrated into the baseband processor in future products. Multimedia Technology Cell phones today do far more than just make calls. To be competitive, vendors must support music, video, and connectivity functions that drive consumers to upgrade their phones. Broadcom uses its unique VideoCore engine, acquired through Alphamosaic in 2004, to efficiently deliver a range of multimedia functions. VideoCore is a specialized architecture that includes a 16-way vector processor. This processor is highly optimized for video, decoding CIF or QVGA-quality video at 30fps using only 34mW of power, much less than video decoding on an ARM CPU. Unlike hard-wired decoders, VideoCore can be programmed for different codecs (e.g. MPEG4 or H.263). It can even be used for 3D graphics, delivering about 10 times the performance of software-based graphics. These features have gained VideoCore a spot in Apple’s video iPods. Broadcom recently announced the BCM2820 application processor,
which combines a VideoCore engine with an ARM11 CPU that operates
at up to 300MHz. Whereas competitors offer application processors
with CPUs that are more than twice as fast, the Broadcom chip delivers
comparable performance at lower power by offloading video and graphics
functions to the VideoCore engine. These chips can also be used in other applications. All mobile devices need power management. The application processor can be used in handheld video players and other mobile devices. Bluetooth and 802.11 are appearing in many mobile devices, including handheld game systems and digital cameras. An Impressive Record Broadcom has an impressive track record of taking over established markets. The company became the leading vendor of Ethernet controllers during the shift to Gigabit Ethernet. Similarly, early deployment of 802.11g made Broadcom number one in WLAN chips. The company recently took the lead in DSL, mainly by integrating CPU, voice, and WLAN technology into its ADSL chips. Now that it has developed the key components for a complete cell phone, Broadcom can use integration to reduce its customers’ costs and simplify their designs. Cell phones represent Broadcom’s toughest challenge yet, but the company has the track record and technology to succeed where others have failed.
|
