Canada's Health Sciences Centre Launches ATM Network of "Future" Based on Scalable 3Com Solutions; New Enterprise Network Delivers Advanced Medical Imaging and Administrative Services for Manitoba's Leading Provider of Healthcare.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 17, 1997--3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS) today announced that Health Sciences Centre, Manitoba's largest healthcare organization, teaching facility and research center, is implementing an advanced asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) enterprise network standardized on high-speed 3Com(R) systems.

Deployed across the Centre's 30-building Winnipeg campus, the 2000-user local area-network (LAN) is based on three redundant 3Com CoreBuilder(TM) 7000 High Density (HD) ATM switches that form the network backbone. These systems are augmented by four additional CoreBuilder 7000 switches and several 3Com Ethernet workgroup switches which allow the Centre to deliver voice, video and data for the first time using an architecture roughly 15 times faster than its former shared Ethernet LAN.

Fueled by these new capabilities, the Centre is now capable of using enterprise-wide ultrasound and cardiology imaging applications that will improve its medical care and administrative applications to expedite services to 600,000-plus patients per year. The new network is also accelerating researchers' and students' access to the Internet and will support an intranet used to post policies, procedures and upcoming events. The ATM LAN will ultimately provide multimedia applications, such as desktop video, to facilitate communications among medical teams comprised of specialists and general practitioners.

"Using our ATM network, we're proactively harnessing proven 3Com architecture to deliver the imaging and data applications we need today and all the multimedia applications we choose to use tomorrow," explained Jim Kerr, division director of Communications and Information Systems for the Health Sciences Centre. "In short, we're utilizing a scalable LAN environment we can fully depend upon now and into the 21st century as we continue to integrate technologies that raise the level of our patient care."

A Complete and Long-Term Alternative

Launched this April, Health Sciences Centre's new network was driven by physicians' and administrators' growing demands for higher functionality to support advanced services. Ultrasound applications provided by the Centre's previous network, for instance, were localized within a specific campus area and increasing network bottlenecks were slowing users' productivity. To rectify this, the organization sought an ATM architecture that could scale up to satisfy its short and long-term needs. After investigating ATM solutions from Fore, Newbridge, Cisco and 3Com, the Centre selected the 3Com CoreBuilder 7000 ATM/Ethernet switches and several 3Com Fast Ethernet and switched Ethernet edge devices. The healthcare organization also obtained 3Com 10 BASE-T, 10/100 BASE-T and ATMLink(TM) PCI 155 Mbps network interface cards (NICs) and 3Com's Transcend(R) network management application.

"The CoreBuilder 7000 switch was the only switch with the right mix of ATM/Ethernet technology in a single chassis," said Patrick leMaistre, the Centre's senior communications engineer. "3Com's flexible array of Ethernet switches and NICs gave us the best feature set, reliability, price/performance and investment protection of any solution. Their Transcend application also uniquely let us manage our entire network from a single management console."

Architecture for 21st Century Care

Driven by the organization's Integrated Health Information System (IHIS), the Centre's new client/server applications include ALI Technologies' UltraPACS system, which captures ultrasound images and allows them to be viewed at doctors' imaging workstations via the ATM LAN. The network similarly distributes EKG tests to cardiologists using MUSE's CV system. It also is expediting the delivery of patients' laboratory test results logged on Psyche Systems laboratory information system.

Administratively, the Centre's network-driven Admission/Transfer/Discharge system is significantly expediting the movement of patients throughout the Centre. The network is accelerating the Centre's financials and benefits processing via automated accounting and human resources systems. Office staff are also gaining added productivity using Microsoft Office and Microsoft Exchange email.

"Our most important goal is to provide our patients with the highest quality care using the best available technology," said Kerr. "With our 3Com ATM architecture, we're accomplishing this and giving Manitobans even more reason to believe in us."

About 3Com Corporation

3Com Corporation enables individuals and organizations worldwide to communicate and share information and resources at anytime from 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. With global reach and local touch, the company provides enterprises, network service providers and carriers, small businesses and consumers with 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 $5.6 billion and employs approximately 13,000 people in 45 countries. For further information, visit 3Com's World Wide Web site at http://www.3com.com . -0-

Note to Editors: 3Com and Transcend are registered trademarks, and ATMLink and CoreBuilder are trademarks of 3Com Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: 3Com Corporate Communications

Peter Ruzicka, 408/764-5853

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