Five devices from Broadcom use the company's BroadR-Reach technology which is claimed to be the world's first series of Ethernet automotive products to deliver 100Mbit/s, reduce connectivity costs adn cabling weight. According to the company, they can reduce connectivity costs by up to 80% and reduce cabling weight by up to 30%. The demand for in-vehicle connectivity is strong and continues to grow as drivers expect infotainment and automated driver assistance to be present to simultaneously access information. Accessing this over unshielded single twisted pair cable saves on costs and weight. The first device is the BCM89500 which is a seven-port, layer two switch with four BroadR-Reach PHYs. The BCM89501 is also a seven-port, layer two switch but with five BroadR-Reach PHYs. The BCM89200 is a four-port, layer two switch with two PHYs to support uplink ports to connect to other devices.The BCM89610 is a single port, 10/100/1000Base-T PHY and is optimised for in-vehicle diagnostic applications. Finally, the single port BCM89810 is a 100Mbit/s BroadR-Reach PHY which is optimised for multiple in-car network applications. Both support connectivity options. All devices, except for the BCM89610 comply with OPEN Alliance specifications. The devices are sampling now and production is scheduled for the second half of the year.
