3Com Unveils Enhanced Enterprise Solutions.

Business Editors

CeBIT America 2003

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 2003

3Com's Commitment to Enterprise Customers Built on Long-Term Investments, Major New Innovations and Unique Integration

At CeBit America in New York, 3Com Corporation (Nasdaq: COMS) today announced a series of new enterprise solutions for larger enterprises with many thousands of users. 3Com has enhanced its innovative XRN(TM) technology to extend the benefits of high availability at a lower cost across multiple buildings and geographically distributed sites of enterprises. 3Com's new enterprise solutions include an advanced modular chassis switch that enables customers to expand their networks with cost-effective and resilient solutions for converged networking of voice and data.

Targeting its high-density LAN core solutions to complement its large enterprise voice solutions, 3Com introduced the new modular Switch 7700, a high-performance, Layer 3 LAN core switch. 3Com also announced the XRN GBIC Fabric Interconnect, a new method of XRN technology implementation that enables customers to extend XRN connections across campuses and longer distances (up to 70 km) to enhance network availability and business continuity, connecting buildings and sites. In addition, 3Com expanded its Switch 40x0 family with the new Switch 4070, an XRN technology-enabled switch with exceptional flexibility to allow IT managers to dictate the mixture of 1000BASE SX and 1000BASE LX ports to meet their specific requirements, using SFP (Small Form-factor Plug-in) transceivers. The company also announced plans for new capabilities on its Gigabit Ethernet switches to support the advanced enterprise routing protocol OSPF.

"Larger enterprise customers may get a complete enterprise LAN solution from 3Com at better price-performance than what they can get elsewhere," said Zeus Kerravala, vice president, The Yankee Group. "3Com's push into the enterprise core has an impact on the competitive landscape and offers customers a viable alternative. With tier-one credentials as a networking vendor, 3Com has a unique value proposition for enterprises to obtain innovative, high-performance network solutions at a lower cost to acquire and manage."

"3Com is making major strides to strengthen its enterprise product portfolio," said Patrick Guay, vice president, LAN Infrastructure, 3Com. "The scaling up of XRN technology-enabled networks brings a new way of building LAN cores to the larger enterprise market, while maintaining a strong value proposition for customers focused on scalability, proven reliability and improved price-performance."

"We are very excited about the new enterprise solutions from 3Com. The new products and recent business development announcements reinforce that 3Com is a serious contender in the broader enterprise market. Depending on my customers' needs, I have a range of new solutions from 3Com," said Glenn Perkal, vice president of sales, Integrity Networking Systems, Inc., a Gold Partner in 3Com's Focus Partner Program. "The new 3Com Switch 7700 opens up new opportunities for us to win more enterprise opportunities with a solution that is more affordable for customers than a comparable Cisco product."

High-Density Gigabit Switches for Enterprise Networks Lead the Way

Based on new technology from Huawei Technologies Ltd with innovation from 3Com, the 3Com(R) Switch 7700 is a high-performance, Layer 3 modular LAN switch for campus core applications and supports convergence of voice, video and data with Quality of Service (QoS), bandwidth management and high-density Gigabit and Fast Ethernet. The Switch 7700 delivers high availability and advanced enterprise protocol support. The switch is also 10 Gigabit-capable, extending the option for future scalability on this platform. This switch protects the integrity of data on the network through advanced security features, addressing today's most critical enterprise requirements.

The new Switch 4070 joins the Switch 4060 and Switch 4050 to create LAN aggregation points in buildings for the flexible control of network capacity and cost. The Switch 40x0 family resides in buildings as the backbone and is complementary to the new Switch 7700, which is robust enough to be the backbone of the entire campus of buildings.

Extension of XRN Technology to Connect Buildings and Sites in Distributed Networks

Within a cost-conscious strategy for maximizing enterprise customers' investments in network infrastructure, XRN technology delivers high availability that competitors' offerings cannot deliver. 3Com's new XRN GBIC Fabric Interconnect for extending XRN technology-enabled switches enables an IT manager to have a Switch 40x0 in one building and then a second Switch 40x0 in another building at some distance away, but still manage the two switches as one core. 3Com can deliver this capability, which offers cost savings to enterprise customers by reducing the need for separate and costly redundancy systems. Moreover, 3Com's support for OSPF will deepen the richness of its enterprise features to ensure the most efficient usage of network capacity for busy network traffic environments.

Service and Support for Enterprise Customers

3Com offers extensive training, service, and support options for 3Com channel partners and customers. These services include planning, assessing, implementing and troubleshooting networks of all sizes. As the network is an integral part of an enterprise's business, customers can rely on 3Com and their channel partners to provide extensive service and support options that are backed by 3Com's labs, experienced engineers, escalation paths, troubleshooting plans, and online tools.

For more information about the new Switch 7700 and other 3Com enterprise products, such as enterprise voice, wireless and security products, please visit www.3com.com.

Pricing and Availability

The 3Com Switch 7700 is expected to be available in July and the 7-slot Starter Kit will have a US list price of $21,995. The Switch 4070 is expected to be available in July and have a US list price of $8,995. The XRN GBIC Fabric Interconnect is expected to be available in September and be part of a chargeable software upgrade.

About 3Com Corporation

3Com is a tier-one provider of innovative, practical and high-value voice and data networking products, services and solutions for enterprises of all sizes and public sector organizations. For further information, please visit www.3com.com, or the press site www.3com.com/pressbox.

3Com and the 3Com logo are registered trademarks and XRN is a trademark of 3Com Corporation. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective holders.