Corporate History

The name, 3Com, combines the things the company sought to bring together when it was founded by Bob Metcalfe in 1979: Computer, Communications and Compatibility. 3Com was launched on the power of its founder's insight that later became known as Metcalfe's Law; namely that usefulness or utility of a network equals the square of the number of users. Ten years later, Eric Benhamou, then CEO of 3Com, would articulate a vision of Pervasive Networking - a world where people can be connected to one another wherever they may be - and a mission to create practical, cost-effective ways for any computer to work easily with any other.

In 1981, IBM introduced its personal computer (PC) and in 1983, 3Com introduced the first network interface card that connected the IBM PC into Ethernet networks. At first, computers were connected together in local area networks (LANs), so people in workgroups could more easily share information such as spreadsheets and resources such as printers and servers. Then, network applications - email for example - were developed and these applications ignited the demand to connect workgroups together into enterprise-wide networks. Outside of the enterprise, individuals connected over wide area networks (WANs) and started forming "on-line communities" through services such as CompuServe and America Online. The second half of the 1990s saw the roll out of the Internet - the network connecting public and private networks together - and by the end of that decade, the network, the variety of applications, and the number of people and businesses connected to the network had all scaled far beyond what anyone ever imagined. 3Com's vision of pervasive networking - unusually prescient - becomes ever more relevant and ever more meaningful to a world hungry for connection.

During the 1980s and 1990s, 3Com became a worldwide leader building the networks that linked people and enterprises into this new world of commerce and communications. Besides making the equipment that connected computers to a network, 3Com developed the hubs, switches and routers that interconnected individuals, workgroups, enterprises and networks.

Today, 3Com is a tier-one provider of innovative, practical and high-value networking products for enterprise customers. 3Com is also a leader in Internet protocol (IP) service platforms and access infrastructure for the network service provider market. 3Com has sold more than 370,000,000 Ethernet connections. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and has offices around the world. For further information, please visit www.3com.com, or the press site www.3com.com/pressbox.