3Com to Demonstrate Convergence and Next-Generation Networked Solutions At Retail Systems '98; New Network Convergence Solutions Driving Retail Innovation.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)--June 16, 1998--3Com Corporation (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :COMS COMS 3Com Corporation (stock symbol) COMS Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist COMS Continuous Opacity Monitoring Systems COMS City of Manchester Stadium (UK) ), a leader in providing innovative networked solutions to retailers, will demonstrate state-of-the-art network convergence solutions for retail environments -- supporting voice, video and data traffic over a single network -- at the Retail Systems '98 conference in New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded . During the show, 3Com will demonstrate its next-generation retail WAN (wide area network) convergence solutions using ATM (asynchronous transfer mode See ATM. (communications) Asynchronous Transfer Mode - (ATM, or "fast packet") A method for the dynamic allocation of bandwidth using a fixed-size packet (called a cell). See also ATM Forum, Wideband ATM. ATM acronyms. Indiana acronyms. ) and frame relay A high-speed packet switching protocol used in wide area networks (WANs). Providing a granular service of up to DS3 speed (45 Mbps), it has become popular for LAN to LAN connections across remote distances, and services are offered by most major carriers. technologies. By replacing legacy routers and VSAT (Very Small Aperture satellite Terminal) A small earth station for satellite transmission that handles up to 56 Kbits/sec of digital transmission. VSATs that handle the T1 data rate (up to 1.544 Mbits/sec) are called "TSATs. (very small aperture terminal (communications) Very Small Aperture Terminal - (VSAT) A kind of ground station used to contact a communications satellite such as INMARSAT. ) equipment with new in-store WAN switches, 3Com's convergence solutions support emerging intranet and multi-media store applications. These solutions enable convergence by intelligently allocating aggregated voice and data bandwidth based on application priorities set by the retailer. "Major retailers collectively spend billions of dollars each year on telecommunications, making this their number one information technology expense after salaries," said Jeff Siegel, 3Com group manager for retail, distribution and lodging. "As such, retailers are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. new, innovative solutions that can cost-effectively support the growing network traffic brought on by emerging Java, browser, multimedia, and video-based store applications." Live Multiservice Convergence Demonstrations During Retail Systems '98, 3Com will be conducting a live multiservice WAN demonstration of voice, video, and data into the store using the PathBuilder(TM) line of WAN switches. The convergence solutions enabled by the PathBuilder WAN switches address the growing bandwidth requirements Bandwidth requirements (communications) The channel bandwidths needed to transmit various types of signals, using various processing schemes. Every signal observed in practice can be expressed as a sum (discrete or over a frequency continuum) of sinusoidal brought on by retailers deploying new on-line applications to the store supporting functions like human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. , decision support, special orders, and customer delivery, as well as in-store multimedia applications like video kiosks and computer-based training See CBT. (application) Computer-Based Training - (CBT) Training (of humans) done by interaction with a computer. The programs and data used in CBT are known as "courseware." . By cost-effectively increasing a retailer's network bandwidth, 3Com's multiservice WAN convergence solutions dramatically improve a retailer's ability to deploy and manage these emerging applications and the critical business initiatives they support. WAN-Based Real-Time Control Real-time control is a popular term for a certain class of digital controllers. For effective digital control, it is critical that sample time be constant. Real-time control achieves nearly constant sample time. See also
3Com, together with Coactive co·ac·tion n. 1. An impelling or restraining force; a compulsion. 2. Joint action. 3. Ecology Any of the reciprocal actions or effects, such as symbiosis, that can occur in a community. Networks, will demonstrate for the first time new, real-time, on-line solutions which utilize the retail enterprise WAN for remote monitoring (protocol) remote monitoring - (RMON) A network management protocol that allows network information to be gathered at a single computer. Whereas SNMP gathers network data from a single type of Management Information Base (MIB), RMON 1 defines nine additional MIBs that provide a and control of in-store refrigeration refrigeration, process for drawing heat from substances to lower their temperature, often for purposes of preservation. Refrigeration in its modern, portable form also depends on insulating materials that are thin yet effective. , energy, security, and other equipment. Centrally monitoring a store's energy consumption, major equipment statuses, and security surveillance in real-time enables retailers to ensure proper equipment utilization, eliminate unnecessary energy costs, and reduce shrinkage. This real-time control solution represents a significant innovation that will bring a new wave of retail cost reduction. Converged In-Store Voice/Data Architecture Another convergence solution that will be demonstrated during the show is a Siemens voice PBX (Private Branch eXchange) An inhouse telephone switching system that interconnects telephone extensions to each other as well as to the outside telephone network (PSTN). integrated into a store's data network architecture. This highly integrated solution replaces the legacy standalone voice PBX, reduces operating costs operating costs npl → gastos mpl operacionales , and will enable retailers for the first time to centrally manage both voice and data. Convergence Solution for Retail Call Centers 3Com will showcase with CellIT the industry's first fully converged enterprise-wide call center solution using a scalable 3Com(R) ATM network. This comprehensive, single distributed solution replaces the multiple and disparate systems used in today's retail call centers, integrating automatic call distribution, predictive dialing, voice processing The computerized handling of voice, which includes voice store and forward, voice response, voice recognition and text to speech technologies. , interactive voice response, message handling and transaction recording. Using 3Com networking capabilities, the solution performs all reporting functions, routes calls between multiple call centers and supports remotely located agents and supervisors. By integrating voice and data infrastructures, retailers can significantly reduce initial capital investment as well as recurring operational, administrative and maintenance expenditure and complexity. Bullet-Proofed Point of Sale As retailers replace their proprietary point of sale (POS (1) See point of sale and packet over SONET. (2) "Parent over shoulder." See digispeak. POS - point of sale ) systems with new open architecture POS solutions POS Solutions, is an Australian company. The company provides software and services to small and medium businesses, where the company has enjoyed steady growth so making it particularly well-known in Australian Newsagencies where its software has taken hold as the market leader. , they are experiencing a dramatic increase in the scale of their in-store Ethernet network. In this larger scaled network architecture, new POS systems coexist and share the network resources with a growing number of back-office and multimedia applications. Network availability and the capability to allocate network bandwidth to support mission critical applications such as POS, is becoming essential in today's network-centric store environment. Based on recent innovations in Ethernet networking, 3Com together with Siemens Nixdorf will exhibit a completely fault tolerant point of sale solution, allowing POS to coexist on a single, integrated store network with unsurpassed performance. 3Com will also demonstrate a new real-time control solution for point of sale that allows retailers to remotely turn POS systems on and off, resulting in reduced energy and maintenance costs. Bullet-Proofed WAN Solution Retailers have grown more concerned over WAN availability in the wake of the recent nationwide frame relay and VSAT data network outages. To address this growing concern, 3Com will exhibit a fault-tolerant solution designed to ensure 100 percent WAN availability. This powerful, yet cost-effective solution is enabling major retail chains, including Wal-Mart (frame relay WAN) and Service Merchandise (VSAT WAN) to benefit from the most fault-tolerant solution in the industry; thus the retailer avoids future downtime due to equipment failures on the part of the carrier or their own in-store WAN equipment. 3Com's end-to-end backup WAN solution, based on the award winning Total Control(TM) remote access concentrator A remote access server that supports one or more T1/E1 lines, allowing multiple analog and ISDN calls to come in over one port from the telephone company. Remote access concentrators can handle much higher call densities than remote access servers. in the data center together with the industry leading x2(TM) technology in-store modems, offers equivalent performance for a retailer's frame relay network. Voice Over IP for Converged Next-Generation Intranet Solutions Together with Harmonic Systems, 3Com will demonstrate the integration of enterprise data such as store polling, email, and online credit card authorization, along with voice over IP across a frame relay circuit. The integration of voice-over-IP adds an incremental operating savings that economically justifies a move to frame relay service for many retailers who may spend as much as $80-100 a month per store for long distance calls between a store and various corporate users. Palm Computing(R) Platform Delivers Next-Generation Wireless Solution 3Com will also showcase its popular pocket-sized PalmPilot(TM) connected organizer at Retail Systems '98. The Palm Computing(R) platform is an open software architecture for handheld computing that provides an ideal basis for third-party developers to create innovative mobile computing solutions. Symbol Technologies has announced plans to deliver a spread-spectrum wireless version of the PalmPilot connected organizer that is designed for the demanding store environment. Symbol has integrated infrared (IR)-based scanning into the PalmPilot handheld solution with an expected price of about half that of other traditional handheld wireless devices. One of the first developers in the supermarket industry of this innovative solution is PeaPod, the leading online grocery shopping and delivery service. The PeaPod application, operating on the Symbol Technologies ruggedized PalmPilot, will be exhibited in the 3Com booth. The smaller, lighter, and more cost-effective next-generation handheld platform will be used to automate the in-store fulfillment process for home delivery. The PalmPilot, according to Dataquest, accounts for 63 percent of the handheld computing market, and with over 1 million units shipped in less than 18 months, it promises to dramatically increase the adoption of wireless applications in-store. 3Com networked solutions provide enterprise connectivity for a majority of major retailers around the world, including Wal-Mart, Sears Roebuck, American Stores, Home Depot, Eckerd Drug Stores, JCPenney, Rite Aid, Carrefour, Lowes Home Centers, OfficeMax, Pep Boys, LL Bean, Musicland, TJX Companies, Hudsons Bay Company, Ross Stores, Nordstroms, Kinkos, Woolworths Australia, Boots plc, Marks & Spencer, and Harrods. About 3Com 3Com Corporation enables individuals and organizations worldwide to stay more connected by communicating and sharing information and resources anytime, anywhere. As one of the world's preeminent suppliers of data, voice and video communications technology, 3Com has delivered networking solutions to more than 100 million customers worldwide. The company provides large enterprise, small and medium enterprise, carriers and network service providers, and consumers comprehensive, innovative information access products and system solutions for building intelligent, reliable and high performance local and wide area networks. 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. 3Com and Palm Computing are registered trademarks and PathBuilder, Total Control, and PalmPilot are trademarks of 3Com Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
CONTACT: 3Com Corporate Communications
Alison Williams, 408/326-3664
Alison_Williams@3Com.com
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