Bridge Information Systems selects 3Com Corporation for securities industry's first end-to-end ATM network; Leading global financial information provider delivers real-time ATM video, videoconferencing and market data via 3Com CoreBuilder high-function switches.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 25, 1997--3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS) today announced that Bridge Information Systems, a leading global provider of online financial information to banks, broker/dealers, exchanges, businesses and institutions, has chosen 3Com to complete the securities industry's first end-to-end asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network.

Deployed at customer sites, 3Com CoreBuilder 7000 High Density (HD) ATM switches will deliver 155 megabit per second (Mbps) ATM desktop services to Bridge clients. All transactions will flow across BRIDGE's nationwide ATM wide area network (WAN), which today serves 49 of the top 50 U.S. institutional investors.

Fueled by the CoreBuilder 7000 switches, the new 3Com ATM desktop and server connections will provide traders, portfolio managers, financial analysts and fund managers with online, real-time access to financial sources including The Nightly Business Report.

"Bridge Information Systems is setting the standard for network capability in the financial community," said Rodney Scott, 3Com worldwide finance industry manager. "Their ATM network will deliver crucial, time sensitive information directly to traders' desktops."

BRIDGE customers will have on demand access to video and voice clips as well as full-text transcripts of news-making events. The network will also provide complete real-time market data and desktop videoconferencing.

"BRIDGE has always outperformed our competition in the delivery of advanced networked services," said Robert McCormick, the firm's executive vice president and chief technology officer. "Now, thanks to 3Com's robust CoreBuilder 7000 switches, we're widening the gap in our leadership by helping our customers more rapidly identify and take advantage of market opportunities on which their business success depends."

50 Percent Higher Performance

BRIDGE's new end-to-end ATM network was driven by growing customer demands for faster access to business-critical video than provided by cable TV connections. Having previously relied on customers' lower-speed LAN technologies to channel ATM WAN data to users, the firm wanted to install higher-speed ATM switches to customer sites.

After evaluating several vendors, BRIDGE standardized on the CoreBuilder 7000 switches, 3Com ATMLink PCI network interface cards (NICs) and 3Com's Transcend Enterprise Manager network management application.

"3Com offered us a superior multiservices solution with the interfaces we need in a scalable, very high-speed, cost-effective switch," said McCormick. "The CoreBuilder 7000's modular four-slot, eight-port density lets us flexibly plug and play OC3 fiber links to our routers and 155 Mbps ATM untwisted pair (UTP) connections to desktops and servers instead of dedicating entire cards to a specific media.

"The Transcend product allows us to troubleshoot and collect historical CoreBuilder product and NIC statistics from a desktop console using remote monitoring (RMON) and RMON2. We also chose 3Com because of its global leadership and reputation for quality products and support."

Fifty percent faster than BRIDGE customers' previous LAN architectures, the CoreBuilder 7000 HD switches have dual power supplies and switching engines as well as redundant links. Broadcast media, for instance, is transmitted from St. Louis in an IP multicast stream across the ATM WAN to a CoreBuilder 7000 switch linked to a 45 Mbps DS3 line. The switch then transfers the content at 155 Mbps ATM over fiber to a router linked to the other CoreBuilder 7000 switch. That CoreBuilder 7000 switch sends the media at 155 Mbps ATM UTP over Cat 5 cable to desktops or to Pentium Pro servers.

"3Com is giving us and our customers an extraordinarily fast and efficient infrastructure that we and they can depend on for many, many years to come," said McCormick.

About Bridge Information Systems

BRIDGE is a global market data company. Through its terminal and feed products it supplies over 55,000 users, representing over 6,500 institutions, with information and news on equities, fixed-income, foreign exchange, derivatives and commodities.

The BRIDGE data and technology center in St. Louis, Missouri operates a completely redundant wideband, state-of-the-art communications system that collects and disseminates market data, news and applications to clients using industry standard technology and protocols.

The firm is headquarted in New York City with major regional centers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific Rim. News bureaus in over 60 locations around the world report on market moving news.

BRIDGE clients include institutional investors, broker/dealers, exchanges, corporations, and state and local governments. In fact, 49 out of the top 50 institutional investors in the U.S. and 80 percent of the world's top banking institutions rely on BRIDGE. For more information, see BRIDGE's home page at http://bridge.com .

About 3Com Corporation

3Com Corporation enables individuals and organizations worldwide to communicate and share information and resources at anytime from anywhere. As the world's preeminent supplier of data, voice and video communications technology, 3Com has delivered networking solutions to more than 100 million customers worldwide. With global reach and local touch, the company gives enterprises, network service providers and carriers, small businesses and consumers the most comprehensive, innovative information access products and system solutions for building intelligent, reliable and high performance local and wide area networks. 3Com has worldwide revenues of more than $5.5 billion and employs approximately 13,500 people in 45 countries. For further information, visit 3Com's new World Wide Web site at http://www.3Com.com or call 1-800/NET-3COM. -0-

Note to Editors: 3Com and Transcend are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. ATMLink and CoreBuilder are trademarks of 3Com Corporation. Pentium is a trademark of Intel Corporation. All other marks are the property of their respective holders.

CONTACT: 3Com Corporate Communications

Peter Ruzicka, 408/764-5853

[e-mail]

or

Bridge Information Systems

Liz Sendewicz, 212/372-7282

[e-mail]