Broadcom Adds Energy Efficient 10GBASE-T Transceivers

Broadcom has added two energy efficient Ethernet (EEE) 10GBASE-T physical layer transceivers (PHYs) optimized for top-of-rack switches, 10GbE server adapters and LOMs (LAN on motherboard) in the data center.


The new quad-port BCM84844 and dual-port BCM84846 substantially reduce power consumption at 10GE to less than two watts per port through the use of EEE, and extend the benefits of EEE to include all device speeds including 1GbE. The devices are based on Broadcom's second generation 40 nanometer (nm) technology. Broadcom's AutoGrEEEn technology enables systems with legacy MACs to get the power savings of EEE in periods of reduced link utilization. Both PHYs provide on-chip IEEE802.1ae MACsec link layer security and 1588v2 precision time protocol (PTP), delivering precise and accurate synchronization of nodes in the network.

Broadcom said these new devices maintain pin compatibility to previous Broadcom devices (BCM84834 and BCM84836) and integration with Broadcom's broad portfolio of switch, controller, and adapter solutions. This includes PHY drivers within Broadcom's Software Development Kit (SDK) and common implementations of MACsec and 1588v2 PTP.
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