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3Com

3Com has been purchased and is now part of Hewlett Packard (HP) networking. 3Com Corporation is the world's number two provider of computer networking products, systems, and services, trailing only Cisco Systems, Inc. A pioneering networking company, particularly in the area of Ethernet network adapters, 3Com offers products and services for local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and the Internet.

The company also is aggressively targeting emerging areas for future growth, including home networks, wireless products, broadband cable, digital subscriber line (DSL) services, and Internet telephony. Some of its key product areas include switches, network hubs (central switching devices for network communication lines), inter-networking routers (devices that automatically select the most effective routes for data being transmitted between networks), remote access systems, network management software, network interface cards, and modems.

3Com also owns about 95 percent of Palm, Inc., the number one maker of hand-held computer devices, which 3Com planned to completely spin off to shareholders in late 2000.

3Com Corporation was founded in 1979 by Robert M. Metcalfe as a consulting firm for computer network technology.

The name 3Com was derived from its focus on computers, communication, and compatibility.

Bob Metcalfe, an M.I.T.-educated engineer, originally established the firm as a consultancy because the market for computer network products had not yet emerged. Six years earlier at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, Metcalfe had led a team that invented Ethernet, one of the first local area network (LAN) systems for linking computers and peripherals (printers, scanners, modems, etc.) within a building.

In 1979, after attending an M.I.T. alumni seminar on starting one's own business, the 32-year-old Metcalfe quit Xerox to start his own consulting firm. Later that year, he incorporated 3Com, with the participation of college friend Howard Charney, an engineer turned patent attorney, and two others as co-founders.

3Com South Africa

This online shop sells the following 3Com products:

• Audio and video cables
• Network Switch
• Network VoIP