3Com Corporation's New ISDN Access Routers Offer Lower Cost of Entry for Routed Internet and LAN Extension Connectivity; Priced Below $1,000, New AccessBuilder Products Make Routing Affordable for Corporate Telecommuting and Branch Offices, Small Independent Businesses, and Personal Internet Access.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 30, 1996--Global data networking leader 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ: COMS) today announced two new ISDN access routers for equipping corporate telecommuters and branch offices, small independent businesses with existing LANs, and individuals using Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with a low cost, easy-to-install and maintain solution for routed connectivity to the Internet and LANs.

Priced below $1,000, the new AccessBuilder Internet 400 and AccessBuilder Remote User 400 strengthen 3Com's offerings for LAN extension and Internet access applications.

3Com's entire remote networking strategy stems from the company's Transcend Networking framework for building and managing worldwide networks. The three fundamental elements of Transcend Networking -- scaling performance, managing the growth, and extending the reach -- offer high levels of scalability, performance, and simplicity in using network resources.

At a list price of $845, the AccessBuilder Internet 400 personal access router supports access to the Internet and IP-based corporate networks for independent small businesses and power users requiring the highest speeds possible for transmitting data. The AccessBuilder Remote User 400 access router, priced at $995, enables small offices with existing Ethernet LANs to connect to the Internet, retail franchise or vendor partner locations, or corporate headquarters using IP and/or IPX protocols.

These two new products, together with the AccessBuilder Remote Office 500 and 600 (formerly Arpeggio) Lite and Arpeggio Plus and the AccessBuilder 7000 central site access concentrator, offer a high performance solution set, standardly equipped with all the software functionality needed in LAN-to-LAN applications -- compression and spoofing, protocol support, security, and management for an unlimited number of users.

In addition, the remote site routers provide a simple menu-based utility designed to eliminate installation and configuration difficulties, and are furnished with eleven status LEDs to help users identify when the AccessBuilder router is running, performance levels on the ISDN B channels, and LAN and ISDN line status. All units in the family can be upgraded in the field from a central location using flash memory, and future upgrades are always free-of-charge. This is important as new standards, such as Bandwidth Allocation Control Protocol (BACP), become available.

"With the addition of the new AccessBuilder access routers, 3Com is again delivering sophisticated, cost-effective products to help network managers and ISPs support the increasing number of people linking to corporate network resources and accessing the Internet," said Bob Jones, general manager for 3Com. "With our breadth of remote networking expertise, 3Com can offer standards-based point products to work within existing systems as well as performance enhanced solutions that provide users with a single point of value by using 3Com end to end."

Cost Controlling Features

3Com's AccessBuilder access router family features a dual protocol set, allowing utilization of today's PPP and Multilink PPP standards and STAC compression, as well as performance-optimized features when using 3Com at both ends to help control the costs associated with using ISDN.

Features specific to 3Com's solutions include: FastConnect protocol for quick 1.2 second call set-up, user-definable internal time clock which allow the ISDN line to be pre-set for use only during certain times in the day or days of the week, IPX/SPX spoofing for ongoing line availability with minimum line use, and Lempel Ziv for at least 4:1, and often 8:1, compression. Supported industry or defacto standards allow for high speed Internet access as well as interoperability with more diverse WAN environments.

Secure, Managed Transmission Features

The entire LAN-to-LAN solution family also delivers comprehensive, highly secure features for transmissions over public and private networks. While complying with industry standard PAP and CHAP as well as third-party external security servers from Security Dynamics, 3Com also offers optimized security capabilities such as: sophisticated IP/IPX firewall filtering capabilities enabling corporations to selectively determine the parameters, i.e. packet type, for secure inbound/outbound network and Internet connections, Ethernet address checking, data encryption, and Caller Line Identification.

Pricing and Availability

The AccessBuilder Internet 400 is priced at $845. The AccessBuilder Remote User 400 is priced at $995. Both the S/T and integrated U interface versions of the products are priced equally, so there's no added expense for the integrated NT-1. The S/T version will begin shipping in May, followed by the U version in June. 3Com offers free software upgrades for all devices in the family.

3Com's efforts to make ISDN easier to adopt include offering free ISDN line ordering and provisioning. Simply call 800/NET-3COM, and select option 1 to gain instant access to 3Com's team of ISDN professionals who will order and correctly provision ISDN lines or provide users with information regarding the availability and cost of ISDN in the United States.

Resellers in the United States should make a point of registering in 3Com's Remote Access Gold Seal program, a special designation within the netWorking Partners program. Please call 800/NET-3COM or a local 3Com sales representative for details.

3Com Corporation has helped more than 28 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 marketing, engineering, 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, AccessBuilder, Arpeggio and Transcend are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. netWorking Partners is a servicemark of 3Com Corporation. All other product names are trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT: 3Com Corporate Communications

Jennifer Wade, 408/764-5137

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