Broadcom Is Bringing Your Fridge Online

Chipmaker Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM ) makes technology for everything. Making a
new GPS device? Broadcoms got your chip. Setting up a new wireless network?
Marketing a line of set-top boxes for cable TV? Near-field communications
technology ? Broadcom. But now the company is in the business of bringing other
technology online for a set of electronics you might not expect appliances. So,
do you need to get your dishwasher online to send you an email when the dishes
are done? Broadcom apparently is the answer again. A Thursday report at GigaOM
detailed Broadcoms latest product a new Wi-Fi module named Wireless Internet
Connectivity for Embedded Devices, or WICED. The WICED module includes a
processor, Wi-Fi radio, software stack and a connectivity application processing
interface. In laymans terms: WICED brings electronics online using a Wi-Fi
connection. The things Broadcom is making WICED for, however, are not the types
of devices that typically leverage Wi-Fi for getting online. Instead of
smartphones, PCs or tablets, WICED is for use in everything from refrigerators
to thermostats. WICED is just one more technology sold in the growing business
of bringing everything in your house online. The Consumer Electronics Show in
January of 2011 was dominated with connected products from companies like
General Electric (NYSE: GE ) and Sony (NYSE: SNE ). Even AT&T (NYSE: T ) debuted
a subscription service for Internet-connected medicine bottle caps pay $15 per
month, and the electronic cap will send you a text message reminding you to take
your prescription. Broadcoms WICED module is unusual, however, because it uses
Wi-Fi for connecting to the Internet. Many companies opt to use ZigBee, a
different type of wireless technology used for networking basic tools like
digital thermostats and light switches. Companies like Texas Instruments (NYSE:
TXN ) and Samsung (PINK: SSNLF ) make the ZigBee chips that Broadcoms WICED will
compete with. ZigBee in turn competes with Z-Wave technology, which also is used
for networking household items. What will make Broadcoms technology appealing
for manufacturers like GE trading in consumer goods is the preponderance of
consumers already using Wi-Fi networks in their homes for PCs, phones and home
entertainment. If someone wants a stove that can check his Gmail account,
bringing that stove online using a wireless router should be simple. Should
Broadcom be on investors radar? BRCM shares have lost about 20% of their value
year-to-date but have slowly climbed about 5% in the past three months. The
company also yields a small quarterly dividend of 1%, which it began paying out
in 2010. It isnt exactly the brightest star in the sky, but if Broadcom can make
Wi-Fi connectivity a central feature in the growing trend of connected home
goods, that should only help fuel the companys steady growth. As of this
writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named
here. Follow him on Twitter at