TippingPoint Positioned in Leaders Quadrant in Analyst Firm's 2H06 Network Intrusion Prevention Systems Appliances Magic Quadrant.

Evaluation Based on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute

AUSTIN, Texas -- TippingPoint, a division of 3Com and the leader in intrusion prevention, today announced it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the leaders quadrant in the '2H06 Network Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) Appliances Magic Quadrant'1 report.

According to Gartner, "leaders" demonstrate balanced progress and effort on ability to execute and completeness of vision categories. Their actions raise the competitive bar for all products in the market, and they can change the course of the industry. To be in the leader quadrant, vendors must have demonstrated a track record of delivering successfully in enterprise IPS deployments and winning in competitive assessments. Leaders produce products that provide high signature quality, offer low latency, innovate with or ahead of customer challenges (such as incorporating access control to expand network security), and offer a range of models to address varying customer needs. Leaders consistently win in competitive situations and have been consistently visible on enterprise shortlists.

"This is a very competitive space, but we attribute our position in the leader quadrant to staying on the forefront of attack trends and anticipating evolving customer security needs," said Neal Hartsell, vice president of marketing, TippingPoint. "We believe enterprise customers view us as the leader in IPS because we were first to market with innovative features like the ability to quarantine infected endpoints, and first to add threat coverage for voice over IP (VoIP), Phishing, and Spyware."

According to Gartner, the network IPS market for stand-alone appliances was approximately $246 million in 2004 and will increase to more than $700 million by the end of 2006. The network IPS market is composed of in-line devices that perform full-stream assembly of network traffic, and provide protection using several methods including signatures, protocol anomaly detection, and behavioral or heuristics.

Gartner also projects that targeted attacks that use unique malicious executables that do not always look to exploit known vulnerabilities will cause the majority of enterprise damage by 2010.

Hartsell added, "TippingPoint will continue its strong focus on cutting edge security research and Digital Vaccine([R]) filter development through our world-class security research organization, DV Labs. DV Labs consists of internal security researchers, filter writers and testers, and a team of over 400 Zero Day Initiative researchers who focus on responsibly discovering and disclosing zero day threats. As threats continue to evolve and more zero day attacks are realized, we are dedicated to providing our customers with the fastest and most comprehensive security coverage."

After launching the first IPS in 2002, TippingPoint now has over 30 awards for its IPS. TippingPoint has launched several industry-leading initiatives such as the voice over IP security alliance, www.voipsa.org, with over 100 members and the Zero Day Initiative, www.zerodayinitiative.com, with over 400 researchers.

About the Magic Quadrant 

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted December 22, 2006, by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About TippingPoint, a division of 3Com

TippingPoint, a division of 3Com, is the leading provider of network-based intrusion prevention systems. The TippingPoint IPS is the most decorated in its industry. For a full list of awards, visit http://www.tippingpoint.com/products_certifications.html. Our innovative approach offers customers unmatched network-based security with ultra-high performance, scalability and reliability. TippingPoint is based in Austin, Texas, and can be contacted through its Web site at www.tippingpoint.com or by telephone at 1-888-TRUE-IPS.

About 3Com Corporation

3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS) is a leading provider of secure, converged voice and data networking solutions for enterprises of all sizes. 3Com offers a broad line of innovative products backed by world class sales, service and support, which excel at delivering business value for its customers. Through its TippingPoint division, 3Com is the leading provider of network-based intrusion prevention systems that deliver in-depth application protection, infrastructure protection, and performance protection. 3Com also is the majority owner of Huawei-3Com Co., Ltd. (H3C), a China-based joint venture formed by 3Com and Huawei in November 2003. H3C brings innovative and cost-effective product development and manufacturing and a strong footprint in one of the world's most dynamic markets. For further information, please visit www.3com.com, or the press site www.3com.com/pressbox.

Copyright [c] 2006 3Com Corporation. 3Com, the 3Com logo, and Digital Vaccine are registered trademarks and TippingPoint is a trademark of 3Com Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective holders.

1 Gartner Research "Magic Quadrant for Network Intrusion Prevention System Appliances" by Greg Young and John Pescatore. December 22, 2006