3COM Announces Plan to Build Two Distinct Leadership Companies in Networking and Handheld Computing.SANTA CLARA Santa Clara, city, Cuba Santa Clara (sän`tä klä`rä), city (1994 est. pop. 217,000), capital of Villa Clara prov., central Cuba. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 13, 1999-- Palm Computing to Become the Handheld Computing Industry's First Public Company 3Com Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Eric Benhamou (Nasdaq: COMS COMS 3Com Corporation (stock symbol) COMS Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist COMS Continuous Opacity Monitoring Systems COMS City of Manchester Stadium (UK) ) today announced plans to build two distinct leadership companies by making its highly successful Palm Computing subsidiary an independent publicly traded company publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. . This new structure will enable 3Com and Palm to build on their market leadership positions in networking and handheld computing by allowing each company to independently focus on growth opportunities in the most promising markets. "Creating the industry's first independent, publicly-traded handheld computing company is a significant milestone, reflecting both the current success and the future potential of our Palm business," said Mr. Benhamou. "Further, the formation of two distinct companies, each with greater flexibility, agility and focus, is expected to create more value for our shareholders, customers and employees." Within the handheld computing arena, significant new growth opportunities are developing that Palm, as a separate company, can capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. to create an entire new industry. Palm is uniquely positioned to aggressively drive a number of emerging strategic market segments including 1) handheld operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. licensing, 2) enterprise computing Refers to information technology in the larger company. See enterprise data and enterprise networking. solutions, 3) wireline and wireless Internet services, 4) portal sites and 5) Palm-branded devices. 3Com's Palm business has expanded rapidly to become the world's leading handheld computing platform See platform. with over five million customers using Palm devices for an increasing array of business and consumer applications. This unprecedented market acceptance has created an emerging multi-billion dollar Palm Economy, which is no longer only based on the popular Palm family of handheld computing devices, but also embraces independent software developers, operating system licensees, strategic alliance partners and hardware OEMs. Palm will be better able to lead and grow the Palm Economy as an independent company with investors, partners and licensees distinct and separate from 3Com. This restructuring will allow 3Com to be focused exclusively on building on its networking connectivity and infrastructure strengths to deliver the next wave of connectivity by creating networks, Internet products and services that let people access and utilize information in new and innovative ways. 3Com remains committed to achieve breakthroughs in simplicity, availability and convergence in its networking systems and connectivity businesses. 3Com also is reinforcing its commitment to market leadership and shareholder value creation through focused management, technology development and investment strategies, and aggressive marketing programs. Further, the company will have the flexibility to cement new strategic alliances and partnerships in support of its user-centric networking strategy. Networking is a rapidly expanding industry, with annual sales expected to surpass US$50 billion by the end of the decade. Mr. Benhamou also said that 3Com will be a licensee of Palm's technology and will continue to support the growth of the Palm Economy. Additionally, each company can further extend the exceptional leadership position of its respective brand. 3Com will make an initial public offering (IPO (Initial Public Offering) The first time a company offers shares of stock to the public. While not a computer term per se, many founders, employees and insiders of computer companies have found this acronym more exciting than any tech term they ever heard. ) for its Palm Computing subsidiary early next year, and intends to subsequently spin-off the balance of the shares of the new publicly traded company to 3Com shareholders. Under this plan 3Com shareholders will ultimately own shares in both companies. Additionally, 3Com directors James L. Barksdale, managing partner of the Barksdale Group and former CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Netscape, and Gordon A. Campbell, president and chairman of Techfarm, Inc., will move to Palm's Board of Directors. Other board and executive management decisions will be announced prior to the filing of an IPO registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. About Palm Computing With fiscal 1999 sales of $570 million, the Palm business represented approximately 10 percent of 3Com's total fiscal 1999 sales. Revenues have more than doubled annually and the business has been expanded to include new markets for software licensing and Internet services. With more than four million Palm handheld computers in the market, Palm is the worldwide market leader with products that include the best-selling best·sell·er also best seller n. A product, such as a book, that is among those sold in the largest numbers. best Palm III The Palm III was the first PDA in the Palm III lineup and is also Palm Computing's first handheld to support infrared file transfer and a Flash ROM capable operating system. The first Palm IIIs went on sale in 1998. (TM), Palm V(TM) and Palm VII The Palm VII product family consisted of two products, the Palm VII and the Palm VIIx Palm Pilots. These were produced by Palm, Inc., before it was split into PalmOne and PalmSource. They had antennas for wireless data communication on the Mobitex network under the now defunct Palm. (TM) series of handheld computers. Worldwide market share leadership is 68 percent. (1) The Palm operating system platform, which consists of three primary components: the Palm OS(R) operating system, the HotSync(R) data synchronization Keeping data in two or more computers up-to-date so that each repository contains the identical information. Data in handheld devices and laptops often require synchronization with the data in a desktop machine or server. technology; and the software interface capabilities to support hardware add-ons, has become the industry standard for information management. With approximately 20,000 developers creating hardware and software products based on the Palm operating system platform, it is the foundation for not only the market leading Palm devices but also products from Palm's strategic partners such as IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Qualcomm, Franklin Covey, Handspring and Symbol Technologies. Other global alliance partners include Oracle, SAP, Computer Associates, Sybase, Lotus, AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. , Sun and Remedy. An open architecture for handheld computing, the Palm Computing platform provides an ideal basis for third-party developers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to create and deliver successful information management, communications, education and entertainment solutions. Currently, more than 3,000 Palm OS-compatible software applications are already available, the largest application base of any handheld computing device. About 3Com Corporation With over 300 million customers worldwide, 3Com Corporation connects more people to information in more ways than any other networking company. 3Com delivers innovative information access products, and residential connectivity and network system solutions to customers including enterprises, small businesses, carriers and network service providers. 3Com -- More connected.(TM) For further information, visit 3Com's World Wide Web site at http://www.3com.com/ or the press site at http://www.3com.com/pressbox/. (1) According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. research firm IDC, the Palm Computing platform holds 73% share of the U.S. personal companion market and 68% share of the worldwide personal companion market, making it the leading standard for software and hardware developers. |
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