3Com Continues To Push SNA Envelope With Newest IBM Connectivity Enhancements Including Industry's First HPR Implementation; Company also announces the shipment of newest remote office router for Token Ring environments.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 11, 1996--3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS) announced today a continuation of their technical leadership in next generation SNA networking with release 9.0 of NETBuilder software.

NETBuilder software release 9.0, which will begin shipping March 29, will contain such advanced SNA networking features as:

-- The industry's first implementation of High Performance Routing (HPR) in a multiprotocol router

-- A versatile prioritization scheme for allowing Data Link Switching (RFC 1795) networks to apportion bandwidth between NetBIOS and SNA traffic

-- Boundary Access Node (BAN) for easier Frame Relay connections to SNA Front End Processors (FEPs)

In addition to the new SNA enhancements which are now being offered with this NETBuilder software release, 3Com also announced the shipment of their NETBuilder Remote Office 52x series of routers that were introduced in November.

"3Com's NETBuilder router products consistently are adding the new features we need to support our SNA customers. To my knowledge, due to 3Com's SNA prioritization scheme, we have yet to lose a SNA session due to WAN congestion," said Ken Moerman, Systems Specialist at First Security Information Technology. "We're currently migrating to Data Link Switching and are impressed with the support we are receiving from 3Com. This added functionality contained in this release demonstrates to me that 3Com is committed to SNA solutions and really are interested in our input."

High Performance Routing Adds To 3Com List of APPN Firsts

High Performance Routing (HPR) is the latest first in 3Com's deployment of Advanced Peer to Peer Networking (APPN). Other industry firsts which 3Com has previously announced include:

-- First company to license APPN technology from IBM -- First commercially available APPN-Network Node (APPN-NN) implementation -- First APPN-NN over Frame Relay implementation -- First to offer DLUR in a multiprotocol routing environment

"3Com is the first router vendor to deliver APPN's two most important extensions -- Dependent LU Requester and High Performance Routing," said Don Czubek, President of Gen2 Ventures. "DLUR/S provides support for legacy SNA while HPR delivers improved performance and dynamic re-routing around failed resources."

High Performance Routing will enable customers to use NETBuilder II routers to implement IBM's newest networking technology on a RISC-based multiprotocol routing platform that is unsurpassed in its performance, scalability, and flexibility. The NETBuilder II HPR support includes:

-- Automatic Network Routing (ANR)

ANR brings to APPN the non-disruptive routing capabilities that have long made IP such a popular protocol and promises to improve APPN forwarding performance by two to 10 times over APPN's current Intermediate Session Routing (ISR). To provide migration support for users of APPN who have deployed ISR-based End Nodes and Network Nodes, 3Com's new APPN implementation will include both the ISR and HPR protocol stacks.

-- Rapid Transport Protocol (RTP)

RTP is a next generation transport protocol designed for high bandwidth, high reliability networks. RTP eliminates APPN's current stage-by-stage control to offer dramatic reduction in overhead.

-- Adaptive Rate Based Congestion Control (ARB)

ARB completes 3Com's APPN picture by dynamically pacing HPR end nodes which minimizes congestion in HPR clouds.

"3Com continues to show that our innovative approach to SNA internetworking environments, when combined with our knowledge of the critical need to migrate legacy traffic to APPN networks, are key factors in delivering first-to-market milestones," said Jeff Thermond, vice president and general manager of the Network Systems Division at 3Com. "By being the first company to implement HPR into our NETBuilder Routers we are demonstrating not only our ability to stay ahead of the growth curve, but also our commitment to providing the newest technologies that will affect this quickly evolving market."

Data Link Switching Prioritization Helps Building Tunneled Networks

A major issue for customers who utilize Data Link Switching (DLSw) to build tunneled networks is the ability to prioritize mission-critical traffic, generally from SNA applications supporting such real-time transaction processing systems as Point of Sale and Automatic Teller networks. In software release 9.0, 3Com's DLSw implementation (RFC 1795) delivers a robust, flexible prioritization mechanism which allows network administrators to allocate the percentage of bandwidth which various users will be allowed. Protocol (SAP) prioritization allows the segregation of SNA and NetBIOS traffic, allowing users to tune the tunnels to meet their traffic and application needs. Beyond this, users can either prioritize:

-- MAC addresses -- to favor certain critical users such as file servers or FEPs; or

-- Local LU addresses -- to prioritize SNA terminals over printers.

For each of these options, administrators can reserve a percentage of bandwidth that each category should have in order to provide the maximum flexibility in tuning DLSw-based SNA Internets.

These DLSw solutions build on 3Com's long tradition of leadership in IP networking. This long tradition includes being the first vendor to ship the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing protocol and continues today with NETBuilder routers running the largest OSPF networks in the world today (3000+ nodes). Additionally, 3Com's recently shipped multicast IP features will be the foundation of the next generation of the Data Link Switching discovery protocol -- a specification which 3Com is providing to the APPN Implementor's Workshop (AIW) DLSw working group.

BAN Support Eases Configuration Issues In Frame Relay Environments

With Release 9.0, 3Com is taking another step in simplifying configuration issues in SNA Internetworking environments by shipping Boundary Access Node (BAN). BAN is a new form of Frame Relay Access Device (FRAD) for the IBM/SNA networking environment for customers who are looking for ways to decrease the complexity of their network configurations.

3Com currently supports the previous form of FRAD called Boundary Network Node (BNN), which requires manual configuration since it does re-mapping between MAC addresses on the LAN and SAPs used on the WAN. With BAN, remote addresses are sent to the hosts, making both re-mapping and manual configuration of end stations unnecessary. BAN also supports such capabilities as dual host attachment and load balancing, both of which are not currently supported with the current RFC 1490 BNN.

The ability to do load balancing between two FEPs and dual connections to mainframes with the same MAC address will help provide additional redundancy that SNA customers are asking for in their Frame Relay networks. BAN will reduce administrative costs by making setup easier today and providing a more robust support in the Frame Relay environment when RFC 1490 is used. This additional support for mission critical applications in the IBM environment shows 3Com's commitment to provided enhanced features in the FRAD arena.

Token Ring/ISDN Routers Shipping for Enterprise-Wide Networks

3Com is also announcing the shipment of their 523 and 527 Token Ring based ISDN routers which further complement their NETBuilder Remote Office Token Ring line of routers. The NETBuilder Remote Office 523 (for SNA Boundary Routing) works with a central site router to support Token Ring connections in a Boundary Routing environment while also offering a standard ISDN BRI connection for either primary or backup WAN connectivity.

The NBRO 527 provides multiprotocol routing and allows customers to field upgrade their NBRO 523's to multi-protocol functionality and, in a SNA Boundary Routing environment, can be used as a central site node to the NBRO 523. The NBRO 527 also maintains an ISDN BRI connection for dial back-up links. Both the NBRO 523 and 527 remote office routers also feature an integrated terminal adapter which offers a significant cost savings over competitive offerings which must utilize external terminal adapter solutions. The NBRO 523 carries a price of $3295 and the 527 is offered at $4295.

3Com Corporation has helped more than 25 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 scalable architecture to meet the present and future 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 our World Wide Web site: http://www.3Com.com. -0-

Note to Editors: 3Com, NETBuilder, and NETBuilder II are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. IBM, APPN, SNA, HPR, BAN and DLUR are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks belong to their respective organizations.

CONTACT: 3Com Public Relations

Rich Black, 408/764-8486

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