3Com Corporation
Corporate Overview
Changing the Competitive Landscape of Converged Networking
Since 3Com's founding in 1979 and creation of the Ethernet standard more than 30 years ago, the world has embraced 3Com's vision of pervasive networking:
- every personal computer has a network connection
- businesses are fundamentally built around a flow of information carried by a network, and
- enterprises large and small are increasingly adopting "converged" networks that include Internet Protocol (IP) telephony technologies to achieve significant cost savings and dramatic new functionality and features that enhance the bottom-line.
Today, under the leadership of President and CEO Bruce Claflin, 3Com is focused exclusively on serving the enterprise data and voice networking market and has a strong balance sheet, renowned brand, large intellectual property portfolio and global presence. The company has world-class strategic partners and one of the broadest product lines and distribution channels in the industry. 3Com continues to define the way networks are built through superior engineering and by leveraging standards to reduce complexity, unlocking the hold of proprietary systems and lowering cost of ownership.
3Com distinguishes itself in the following fundamental areas:
- Quality - leading technology innovation, service, distribution and reliability backed by a sound balance sheet;
- Breadth - offering among the broadest array of feature-rich, competitive networking solutions;
- Value - excelling at price to buy and cost to own - a superior cost structure combined with a focus on reducing complexity, and;
- Innovation - creating disruptive technologies to drive adoption of converged networking (e.g. VoIP/IP telephony). 3Com's intellectual property portfolio includes 1,057 U.S. patents with 720 more pending applications.
3Com Enterprise Networking
3Com's long-term technology-based vision centers on enterprise customers migrating to secure IP infrastructures that fully integrate data and voice networking applications.
Data Networking Infrastructure
In order to meet the business and technology needs of enterprise customers, 3Com's network infrastructure focuses on the main requirements for fully converged enterprise networks: availability, performance, scalability and ease-of-use, while lowering the cost to buy and own. 3Com is one of only a few vendors that can deliver feature-rich, high-performance, end-to-end solutions that support voice and data applications to the large, medium and small enterprise markets.
As part of an aggressive, standards-based approach to meeting enterprise customers' requirements for lower cost of ownership, 3Com is focused on reducing complexity by making management and configuration of data networking much easier. 3Com continues to innovate around an open architecture that supports multivendor environments.
3Com's portfolio includes wide area network (WAN) router solutions designed to eliminate enterprise customers' concerns about premium-priced, proprietary systems that are highly complex and costly to manage and support.
3Com's innovative eXpandable Resilient Networking (XRN™) technology connects multiple LAN switches and manages them as a single fabric, lowering administration burdens, decreasing costs, and creating a highly resilient and redundant network core. By allowing multiple switches to be administered as one, XRN technology maximizes performance management. XRN allows companies to expand their networks with "pay-as-you-grow" scalability and helps reduce the risk of network failure.
3Com's enterprise solutions also include advanced modular chassis switches that enable customers to expand their networks with cost-effective and resilient solutions for converged networking of voice and data.
3Com delivers its networking capabilities in the following categories of data networking products and solutions
- WAN routers
- Switches
- Network security platforms
- Wireless access points, adapters and connectivity products
- Internet access gateways (wired, wireless)
- Secure network interface cards (NIC), including embedded firewall products
- IntelliJack™ Switches (in-the-wall LAN switches)
- Network management applications
- Connectivity products (NICs, LAN on motherboard - LOMs, modems), and
- Professional services.
IP Telephony - Enterprise VoIP
The nascent IP telephony enterprise market continues to demonstrate enormous growth potential for 3Com. Market research indicates small businesses have passed the inflection point with more IP lines shipped versus traditional phone systems. The medium enterprise market is not far behind with an anticipated milestone for more IP lines shipped by 2005. The large enterprise market is just beginning to realize its potential as it overcomes challenges in migrating to IP and finding scalable solutions.
3Com pioneered IP telephony for the small to medium enterprise market as one of the first-to-market with its NBX® solution in 1998. Today, the company is altering the IP telephony competitive landscape for the enterprise market with an innovative solution that combines technology used by 17 of the world's largest 20 telecommunications carriers with the best of its NBX solution.
3Com's newly released product line - the 3Com VCX™ IP Telephony Solution - offers a pure-IP based, carrier-grade telephony solution for the enterprise customer of any size. The VCX solution offers a unique ability to scale across a large, multi-site, distributed network efficiently and reliably through a centralized, modular architecture ideally suited for management and provisioning. At the same time, VCX technology easily integrates with legacy infrastructures, avoiding a costly "fork lift" approach, to allow for a measured migration to a full IP telephony network. 3Com VCX systems are supported by a broad range of 3Com solutions, including end-to-end security, high performance routing, flexible and reliable core switching, and wireless networking to extend connectivity wherever it is needed.
Network Security
As an end-to-end networking provider, 3Com is uniquely positioned to overlay standards-based security technologies on the various components of the network itself as well as on purpose built security appliances, which are deployed at key points of vulnerability across the network. These security overlays include: Application-Aware Firewall, Virtual Private Network (VPN), AAA/Policy, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Anti-Virus and Security Management. These overlays are being developed via partnership with best-of-breed security vendors and through internal development. The overlays are infused across 3Com's existing wired and wireless network infrastructure portfolio as well as extending into the release of purpose built security appliances. 3Com's pervasive network security can save customers money by integrating the security technologies onto a single platform, greatly reducing network complexity.
By infusing various security overlays throughout hardware and software that define and manage the network, 3Com is moving well beyond being a provider of point products that reside as network add-ons to a being a provider of a security framework that is the network.
3Com Ventures and Strategic Partnerships
Huawei-3Com Joint Venture
In November 2003, the Huawei-3Com Co. Ltd. began operations in Hangzhou, China, to deliver enterprise networking solutions including routers and LAN switches that complement 3Com's existing product portfolio. In China and Japan, Huawei-3Com sells its own product as well as 3Com products, dramatically strengthening 3Com's position in the world's largest growth markets. Huawei-3Com significantly improves 3Com's cost structure and price-performance proposition, expands the company's product portfolio for large enterprises and triples its R&D capabilities.
System Integrators
To sell the company's broad product line, 3Com is expanding its channels to include enterprise VARs, systems integrators and service providers that can support more complex large enterprise solutions. To that effect, 3Com has teamed with EDS, a leading systems integrator, which now includes 3Com's broad portfolio of switches, routers and VoIP enterprise networking products into its service offering. The two companies are also collaborating on solution development activities to meet the needs of enterprise customers and provide superior value and choice.
Solutions and Technology Partners
Aspect Communications
3Com and Aspect Communications are delivering highly scalable, feature-rich, integrated IP telephony solutions for enterprises and contact center communications worldwide. The joint solution combines IP-private branch exchange (PBX) with contact center functionalities such as advanced call routing, multi-channel support and centralized workflow development.
Crossbeam Systems
3Com and Crossbeam Systems are delivering integrated security solutions to enterprises worldwide. 3Com is marketing, selling and supporting Crossbeam security services switches through an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement. The alliance is designed to secure the communications, information and networks of enterprise customers around the world.
3Com Distribution Channel
3Com has revitalized its distribution approach into a comprehensive, simple partner program to market to organizations of all sizes. The company has expanded its distribution channel to include system integrators and service providers, which complement its existing worldwide channel partner base.
3Com's established global brand reputation and broad line of enterprise networking equipment provide solid ground for resellers to be successful with customers demanding improved price/performance. 3Com provides channel partners the best options for increasing revenue and market share through broader, more competitive offerings.
3Com has pioneered and refined the two-tier distribution channel sales model, which accounts for the majority of the company's sales. By working closely with a select group of large, strategic distributors, 3Com maintains channel inventory, which is then sold and supported by value added resellers (VARs) in the field.
Adding support to the channel model through a "direct touch" sales force to generate leads and provide technical support to the VARs. 3Com's award winning channel partner program is one of the largest in the networking industry and includes the top-tier distributors and 41,000 VARs, worldwide. 3Com's channel program ranked No. 1 for price/performance in CRN and No. 1 in small business networking (Cahners).
