3COM, Digital Equipment Services Sign Worldwide Reseller Agreement.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 7, 1996--3Com Corp. (NASDAQ: COMS) today announced it has signed a worldwide reseller agreement with Digital Equipment Corp.'s Services Division.

The agreement authorizes Digital to resell 3Com's complete networking product lines -- including adapters, hubs, switches and routers -- as part of a product and service solution for Digital's global customer base.

By combining Digital's service offerings with 3Com's best-in-class technology, the two companies will help customers migrate toward high speed networking technologies such as Fast Ethernet, ATM, and switching.

Relationship Recognizes the Complexity of Today's Networks

"With the acceleration of network-based solutions, we are playing a key role in planning, designing, implementing, migrating and maintaining enterprise solutions in a rapidly changing multivendor environment," said Graeme Shorter, Digital's vice president, enterprise networks and platform technologies. "3Com is an important part of the product and service solutions needed by our customers."

As computer networks grow beyond the traditional enterprise, customers increasingly look for a vendor that can integrate technologies, provide best-in-class products, and support the networks from the corporate LAN out to remote sites, such as branch offices and home offices.

"The Digital/3Com alliance makes it easier for us to deploy a wider range of solutions," said Jean Dantinne, distributed systems manager, Electrabel in Belgium. "This relationship combines the strengths of Digital services with 3Com products." The Electrabel network, which spans two nuclear power plants and corporate headquarters, features 80 high-end 3Com hubs.

Norm Cox, educational technology coordinator at Punahou Schools in Hawaii, said, "One point of contact is very important for us, especially because we live on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We need to eliminate any finger pointing among vendors, and we've done that with Digital providing project management, implementation, and support."

Punahou Schools, the nation's largest K-12 private school, is installing an ATM backbone network to connect 35 buildings serving more than 4,000 students, faculty, and administrators. The ATM-to-switched Ethernet network features 3Com CELLplex 7000 switches, 3Com LinkSwitch 2700 switches, as well as 3Com hubs.

Ralph Godfrey, 3Com's senior vice president, global channel sales, said, "This agreement supports 3Com's strategy to build partnerships which allow us to extend our reach to large multi-national customers. We chose Digital as a key worldwide systems integrator because it provides the types of services global customers need, such as planning, design, and network management and maintenance services."

Digital Equipment Corp. is a world leader in open client/server solutions from personal computing to integrated worldwide information systems. Digital's Intel and Alpha platforms, storage, networking, software and services, together with industry-focused solutions from business partners, help organizations compete and win in today's global marketplace. Digital's World Wide Web site is located at http://www.digital.com.

3Com Corp. has helped more than 36 million people gain access to critical information through high-speed networks. Designed to serve large enterprises, service providers, small offices and homes, 3Com products provide a scaleable architecture to meet the connectivity needs of today's users. With research and development on three continents, 3Com is one of the data networking industry's largest and fastest growing companies. 3Com's innovative manufacturing, marketing, sales and support simplify communication, optimize network reliability and protect customer investments. For further information, visit 3Com's World Wide Web site at http://www.3Com.com. -0-

Note to Editors: 3Com and LinkSwitch are registered trademarks and CELLplex is a trademark of 3Com Corp. Digital, the Digital logo, and Alpha are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corp. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: 3Com Corp.

Elizabeth Cardinale, 408/764-5303

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or

Digital Equipment Corp.

Howard Sholkin, 508/496-9474

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