Broadcom introduces 5G radio switch

Broadcom announced the immediate availability of the Broadcom Monterey Ethernet switch (BCM56670). The company said this is the industry’s first built specifically for mobile fronthaul networks. This high capacity device meets the stringent performance demands of new Ethernet-based 5G radios and supports existing CPRI-based radios, thus consolidating all radio traffic onto a standard, Ethernet-based infrastructure.

The 5G build-out will require an increase in capacity of the mobile network by a factor of ten or more and a simultaneous tightening of key synchronisation requirements by a factor of two or more.

The company said its Monterey Ethernet switch is the result of the careful integration of a full set of radio-centric features with a terabit-class platform based on Broadcom’s widely adopted switching portfolio. High-resolution, high-accuracy synchronisation compliant with IEEE 802.1CM, CPRI-to-Ethernet bridging, and nanosecond-scale jitter and delay control together with IEEE new fronthaul standard have been added to this Ethernet switch to address all 5G mobile networking requirements. The Monterey Ethernet switch shares a set of common API interfaces with other Broadcom switching products via Broadcom’s Software Development Kit (SDK), thus minimising development effort and accelerating system introduction, the company said in a press release.

Monterey Ethernet switch (BCM56670) product samples and System Reference Kits are available immediately.