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3Com

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3Com Corporation
Company typePublic Nasdaq: COMS
IndustryComputer Networks
Founded1979
Headquarters
Marlborough, Massachusetts
,
United States
Key people
Edgar Masri, Pres. & CEO
Eric A. Benhamou, Chairman
Donald Halstead, III, CFO & Exec. VP
ProductsNetwork hardware
RevenueIncrease$794.80 million USD (2006)
Decrease$157.10 million USD (2006)
Decrease$100.67 million USD (2006)
Number of employees
1,925
Websitewww.3com.com

3Com (Nasdaq: COMS) is a manufacturer best known for its computer network infrastructure products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe and is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts. The name 3Com comes from the company's focus on "Computers, Communication and Compatibility".

History

Robert Metcalfe invented Ethernet at Xerox PARC, and subsequently co-founded 3Com in 1979. 3Com began making Ethernet adaptor cards for many early 1980s computer systems, including the LSI-11, IBM PC, and VAX-11. In the mid-1980s, 3Com would brand their Ethernet technology as EtherSeries, while introducing a range of software and PC-based equipment to provide shared services over a LAN using XNS protocols. These protocols were branded EtherShare (for file sharing), EtherPrint (for printing), EtherMail (for email), and Ether-3270 (for IBM host emulation).

The company's network software products included:

  • 3+Share file and printer sharing.
  • 3+Mail e-mail.
  • 3+Remote for routing XNS over a PC serial port.
  • NetConnect for routing XNS between Ethernets.
  • (MultiConnect?) was a chassis-based multi-port 10Base2 Ethernet repeater.
  • 3Server, a server-grade PC for running 3+ services.
  • 3Station, a diskless workstation.
  • 3+Open file and printer sharing (based on Microsoft's LAN Manager).
  • Etherterm terminal emulation.
  • Etherprobe LAN analysis software.
  • DynamicAccess software products for Ethernet load balancing, response time and RMON II distributed monitoring.

3Com's expansion beyond its original base of PC and thin Ethernet products began in 1987 when it merged with Bridge Communications. This provided a range of equipment based on Motorola 68000 processors and using XNS protocols compatibly with 3Com's Etherterm PC software.

  • CS/1, CS/200 communication servers ("terminal servers")
  • Ethernet bridges and XNS routers
  • GS/1-X.25 X.25 gateway
  • CS/1-SNA SNA gateway
  • NCS/1 network control software running on a Sun2.

Acquisitions

3Com came close to being acquired by UNIX workstation company, Convergent Technologies, abandoning the pact just two days before a vote was scheduled in March 1986. Later, 3Com went on to acquire the following:

They merged with U.S. Robotics in 1997, which made dial-up modems, and included Palm, Inc. The modem business was rapidly shrinking. 3Com attempted to enter the DSL business, but was not successful.

In August 1998, Bruce Claflin was named COO. In March 2000, with stiff competition with Cisco, 3Com exited the high-end router business, upsetting its larger corporate customers.

In the server Network interface card business, the more lucrative part of the NIC business, 3Com remained second in market share, after Intel. 3Com never managed to beat Intel with its own products or even with joint ventures with Broadcom. It started developing Gigabit Ethernet cards in-house but later scrapped the plans. Later, it formed a joint venture with Broadcom, where Broadcom would develop the main ASIC component and the NIC would be 3Com branded. The venture fell apart some time later and 3Com no longer had the talent to pursue Gigabit Ethernet on its own.

In July 2000, 3Com spun-off Palm as an independent company. After the IPO, 3Com still owned 80% of Palm but 3Com's market cap was smaller than Palm's. U.S. Robotics was also spun out again as a separate company at this time.

In 1999 3Com acquired NBX, a Boston company with an Ethernet-based phone system for small and medium sized businesses. This product proved popular with 3Com's existing distribution channel and saw rapid growth and adoption. As one of the first companies to deliver a complete networked phone system, and increased its distribution channel with larger telephony partners such as Southwestern Bell and Metropark Communications, 3Com helped make VoIP into a safe and practical technology with wide adoption.

3Com tried to move into the smart consumer appliances business and on June 2000, 3Com acquired internet radio startup Kerbango for $80M. It developed its Audrey appliance, which made an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. It scrapped the Audrey and Kerbango products less than a year later.

In January 2001, Bruce Claflin became CEO. At this point, the company's main cash-cow, the Network interface card business, was also shrinking rapidly, mainly because the functionality was integrated into the southbridge chipset. The company started slashing or selling divisions and going through numerous phases of RIFs. The company went from employing more than 12,000 employees to fewer than 2,000.

In May 2003, the company left its Silicon Valley Santa Clara headquarters for Marlborough, Massachusetts. It also formed a venture with Huawei whereby 3Com will sell and rebrand products under the joint venture.

In 2003, 3Com sold its CommWorks Corporation subsidiary to UTStarcom, Inc. The CommWorks subsidiary was based in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and developed wireline telecommunications and wireless infrastructure technologies.

In January 2006, Bruce Claflin announced he will be leaving the company. In the summer, Edgar Masri returned to 3Com to head as President and CEO.

Note: As of February 2006, the Santa Clara location will be downsized and then eventually closed before the end of 2006.

Former Subsidiaries

CommWorks Corporation

CommWorks Corporation was a subsidiary of 3Com Corporation, based in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. It was sold to UTStarcom, Inc. of Alameda, California in 2003.

CommWorks Corporation was a wholly-owned subsidiary company of 3Com Corporation. It was formerly the Carrier Network Business unit of 3Com, comprised of several acquired companies: US Robotics (Rolling Meadows, Illinois)[1], Call Technologies (Reston, Virginia)[2], and LANsource (Toronto, Canada),[3]. CommWorks was able to use technology from each company to create IP softswitch and IP communications software. US Robotics provided media gateways (the Total Control 1000 product line, formerly used for dial-modem termination) and softswitch technology. Call Technologies provided Unified Messaging software. LANsource provided fax-over-IP software that was integrated with the Unified Messaging platform.

CommWorks/3Com co-developed an H.323-based softswitch with AT&T in 1998 for use in a "transparent trunking" application for AT&T's residential long-distance customers[4]. In this solution, long distance telephone calls were redirected from the LEC's ingress CLASS 5 switch to the Total Control 1000 media gateway, where it was converted from TDM to IP and transported across AT&T's WorldNet IP backbone. When it reached the destination, it was passed to the egress LEC's CLASS 5 switch as an untariffed data call.

CommWorks modified the gateway and softswitch software to support SIP for MCI/WorldCom's hosted business offering in 2000. [5]

Although 3Com sold CommWorks to UTStarcom[6], they retained intellectual property rights to the softswitch technology. After modifying the software to enable enterprise PBX features, 3Com released this technology as VCX, the industry's first pure SIP PBX, in 2003.[7]


Products

3Com 3c905-TX 10/100 PCI network interface card

See also

References

3Com gets new CFO - The Boston Business Journal

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ [3]
  4. ^ [4]
  5. ^ [5]
  6. ^ [6]
  7. ^ [7]

This article is based on material taken from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing prior to 1 November 2008 and incorporated under the "relicensing" terms of the GFDL, version 1.3 or later.

External links

  • Official homepage of 3Com Corporation
  • Business data for 3Com Corporation:
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