ADVISORY/3Com Founder and Ethernet Inventor Bob Metcalfe Shares Insights Two Years after Turning Venture Capitalist; Thursday, Oct. 23; 5:30 P.M. Est.

News Editors/Business Editors/Assignment Desks

ADVISORY...for Thursday (Oct. 23)

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

    WHO:        "What I Learned in the Past Two Years as a Venture
                Capitalist" by Dr. Robert M. ("Bob") Metcalfe. Bob
                Metcalfe, who invented Ethernet 30 years ago and grew
                billion-dollar 3Com to promote it, will share lessons
                learned during his two years as an apprentice
                high-tech venture capitalist. Metcalfe has been a
                general partner in the Boston office of Polaris
                Ventures since January 2001. He specializes in
                information technology start-ups and will argue the
                following:

        --  Why we should just forget the Internet bubble;

        --  What's hot (video and wireless) and what's not (optical
            and services);

        --  Why it's better for a VC to invest more time in searching
            for good start-ups than in helping them to prosper; and

        --  The difference between good technologies, good companies,
            and good investments.

While an engineer-scientist (1965-1979), Metcalfe helped build the early Internet. In 1973, at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in California, he invented Ethernet, the international local-area networking standard on which he shares four patents. While an entrepreneur-executive (1979-1990), Bob founded 3Com Corporation, the billion-dollar networking company. While a publisher-pundit, Metcalfe was CEO of IDG's InfoWorld Publishing Company (1992-1995). He has written for American Spectator, Forbes, Technology Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired Magazine. Metcalfe's book credits include "Packet Communication," "Internet Collapses and Other InfoWorld Punditry," and "Beyond Calculation: The Next Fifty Years of Computing."

This event is hosted by MIT Enterprise Forum of Atlanta (http://www.mitforum-atlanta.org).

    WHEN:       Thursday, October 23

    WHERE:      GCATT Auditorium; 250 14th St. NW; Atlanta GA 30318

    TIME:       Light dinner/networking begins at 5:30 p.m. EST;
                Program starts at 7 p.m.

    CONTACT:    Scott Mills at 678-781-7201 or
                at [e-mail]

ABOUT THE MIT ENTERPRISE FORUM OF ATLANTA: The MIT Enterprise Forum of Atlanta is a volunteer, non-profit organization whose mission is to provide educational programs and services that promote and strengthen innovation at the intersection of business and technology in the Southeast. Its primary goals and objectives include: To educate the business community by bringing together entrepreneurs, high-tech business managers, venture and angel investors and representatives of the service community in a stimulating, interactive setting; to assist individual entrepreneurs during the critical early phases of their business development; to stimulate more informed and more successful local risk-taking; to serve as a catalyst for improving funding prospects; and to inform the business community about the leading edge technologies that will transform our economy in the 21st Century. Forum membership is open to all. Less than 15% of members are MIT affiliates.