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March 12, 2004
Broadcom has new chip for home NAS
I have been searching for an affordable home NAS solution. To date I have basically cobbled together my own from old PCs and stuff. But now Broadcom has a chipset that should drive the cost of stand-alone NAS into the consumer range. Thanks to Linley Group for this:
Last week Broadcom announced production availability of a new storage controller, the BCM4780. Based on a 300MHz MIPS core, the 4780 targets network storage (NAS) products for the home or small office that can retail for as little as $99 (excluding the necessary hard drives), enabling secure file- and printer-sharing. Unlike Broadcom's home-gateway processors, the 4780 includes all software for a production-ready NAS device. In million-unit volumes, the part lists for $20.
The 4780 reuses many building blocks that appear in Broadcom's home-gateway processors: a 10/100 Ethernet MAC, 200Mbps AES crypto engine, and USB and PCI interface blocks; multichannel SATA functionality, however, is left to a third-party PCI device. Unlike IDT's RC32434 processor, the 4780 lacks authentication hardware for digital rights management (DRM). Even with these shortcomings, the 4780's bundled software makes the offering distinctive. Installation is simplified by auto discovery, together with support for Windows, Mac, and Linux environments. Support for RAID 0, 1, and 10, real-time encryption, and up to four hot-swappable drives brings enterprise-class features to the home and small business. And support for multiple video streams (up to three HDTV streams or seven DVD streams) enables the killer app for network-attached storage in the digital home: a video jukebox.
The NAS offering complements Broadcom's extensive home-targeted product portfolio--cable, satellite, and DSL modems; WLAN clients; gateway processors; and video decoders. As transistor budgets grow, Broadcom's aggressive integration strategy is bringing enterprise technology to the digital home, enabling new product categories. Broadcom is likely to see stiff competition from AMD, Intel, and Marvell; it will fare well if it continues to favor the whole-product approach exemplified by the 4780.
Posted by Martin at March 12, 2004 11:45 AM
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