3Com Announces $1.5 Million Win For LAN Switches With Delaware Center for Educational Technology; New 3Com Gigabit Over Copper Switch Prevails Over Four Competitors' Solutions.

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Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 24, 2001

3Com(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:COMS) today announced that the Delaware Center for Educational Technology (DCET) has deployed $1.5 million worth of high-speed switching equipment from 3Com, upgrading local area networks (LANs) in 71 elementary, middle and high schools with Gigabit and Fast Ethernet technology. After evaluating proposals for Gigabit Ethernet solutions from Cisco, Nortel, Alcatel and Marconi in response to its Request for Proposal (RFP), the DCET chose the 3Com SuperStack(R) 3 Switch 4900 family, which flexibly distributes 1000 megabits per second (Mbps) connections over both copper and fiber cabling in conjunction with the 3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 3300 family.

A State of Delaware agency, Smyrna, DE-based DCET has helped Delaware's schools leverage technology to prepare students for 21st century careers since 1995. The agency today procures, deploys and manages telecommunications and local area network equipment for 114,000 students, 7,000 teachers and 1,500 administrators across 19 Delaware school districts and seven charter schools.

"3Com was willing to go the extra mile to ensure that our district-wide networking needs were met efficiently and to our precise specifications," said Dr. Wayne Hartschuh, Executive Director, DCET. "The company has been a trustworthy vendor for us for many years. Using their new radically simple, stackable networks and impeccable service, our schools can now enrich our computer-based curricula to our students."

As the market share leader in Gigabit Ethernet over copper switching technology, 3Com excels in developing affordable, high-speed LAN switches that are easy to buy, own and manage. The versatile SuperStack 3 Switch 4900 family make large-scale deployments in distributed environments simpler for customers and are the industry's most reliable, cost-effective choice for achieving high-availability gigabit performance.

To date, 18 of Delaware's 19 school districts are using 60 3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 4900s, nearly 1,000 3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 3300 stackable 10/100 switches and hundreds 3Com's server and desktop network interface cards (NICs). The DCET is seeking further funding for an additional 85 SuperStack 3 Switch 4900s in 74 schools and 634 SuperStack 3 Switch 3300s. The 3Com systems were installed by DCET's value added reseller PC Supplies of Newark, DE.

With the new 3Com systems, schools can more efficiently use the classroom computers that have doubled in number in the past two years. Students are making use of the Internet for research, homework and special projects, in addition to computer assisted instruction and assessment programs, such as, Success Maker, Accelerated Reader and STAR Reading. For example, Renaissance Learning's STAR Reading software assesses student reading levels in 10 minutes or less and helps guide each student by suggesting prescriptive actions to encourage and promote optimal reading growth.

"3Com technology has put our schools on the forefront of 21st century academics," said Hartschuh. "We couldn't ask for a more valuable or effective partner as we strive to help Delaware's children get ahead of the curve."

About 3Com Corporation

3Com simplifies how people connect to information and services through easy-to-use connectivity products and solutions for people and businesses. The company also provides access infrastructures and IP services platforms for network service providers. For further information, visit www.3com.com or the press site at www.3com.com/pressbox.

Note to Editors: 3Com and SuperStack are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. All other company and products names may be trademarks of their respective holders.