The BCM5478 consists of eight complete 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet transceivers integrated on a single monolithic CMOS chip. The BCM5478 is optimized for low power and small footprint size to enable high-port-density applications. The BCM5478 enables a new class of cost-effective Gigabit Ethernet equipment by lowering system cost and reducing power dissipation by nearly 30 percent, driving the delivery of Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth to the desktop.
The BCM5478 DSP-based architecture and advanced power management techniques combine to achieve robust and low-power operation over existing Category 5 twisted-pair wiring. The BCM5478 architecture not only meets the requirements of IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.3u, and IEEE 802.3ab, but also maintains the industry's highest level of margin over IEEE requirements for echo, near-end crosstalk (NEXT), and far-end crosstalk (FEXT). Low power is the key to implementing high-density Gigabit Ethernet switches, and the BCM5478 has the lowest power in the industry at less than 600 mW per port. In addition, the BCM5478 has extremely low EMI emissions, which reduces the design constraints required to meet EMI radiation specifications.