3Com Turns More Companies Onto Gigabit Ethernet Networking for High-Powered, Affordable and Simple Connections
Company Leads the Worldwide Market in Gigabit Ethernet over Copper Switch Port Shipments with Industry's First End-to-End Gigabit Ethernet Solution
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 14, 2001-- Businesses that need to connect groups of people affordably, yet still support bandwidth-hungry applications in such operations as finance, human resources, marketing, manufacturing, education and communication, have their answer with 3Com's new Gigabit Ethernet networking solution. As the market leader in Gigabit Ethernet switching over copper, 3Com Corporation (Nasdaq: COMS - news) today announced it is aggressively driving down the cost of Gigabit Ethernet technology, shattering the price barrier with a solution that is priced 30%-50% lower than the competition. Building on November's unveiling of new networking solutions for businesses of all sizes, 3Com paves the way for all companies to implement a Gigabit Ethernet high-performance networking solution that is easy to install, maintain and own.
``3Com is the only company to offer a complete end-to-end Gigabit Ethernet networking solution that brings rich connectivity to users,'' said Tom Werner, vice president and general manager, Business Connectivity Group, 3Com. ``We will continue to drive the transition to Gigabit Ethernet with affordable, radically simple solutions, just as we developed and still lead the Ethernet and Fast Ethernet markets.''
Today, 3Com extends its end-to-end Gigabit family with new server connectivity that speeds up business applications for higher productivity while saving companies the costly aggravation of having to deploy more expensive, complex networking products. The 3Com® solution includes the new 3Com 10/100/1000BASE-T PCI-X server network interface card (NIC) and two new modules - 3Com SuperStack® 3 Switch 4900 4-port 1000BASE-T and SuperStack 3 Switch 4900 4-port 1000BASE-LX - for the SuperStack 3 Switch 4900 product family, which was unveiled in November 2000.
``The growth of high bandwidth applications, such as real time video, has demanded vastly faster networks. Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP include support for these high bandwidth requirements,'' said Dwight Krossa, director, Windows Marketing, at Microsoft Corporation. ``We are excited to work with 3Com on their release of their Gigabit card, which provides Gigabit speed networking along with advanced features like processor offload.''
3Com delivers on its strategy as the only end-to-end Gigabit vendor in the industry, offering both network interface products and sophisticated - yet simple-to-use - SuperStack 3 switches in managed and unmanaged configurations that free companies to focus on their business.
3Com's Leadership in the Fast-growing Gigabit Ethernet Market
According to market analyst firm Cahners In-stat, 3Com is the market leader in Gigabit over copper switch port shipments. Due to a surge in the fourth quarter of 2000 around the delivery of new 3Com switches for businesses of all sizes, 3Com's worldwide market share soared to 28.6%.
``Gigabit Ethernet is becoming necessary to accommodate the ever-growing - and increasingly congested - network activity and process-intensive server transactions,'' said Joel Conover, senior analyst with Current Analysis. ``3Com is driving Gigabit Ethernet adoption by delivering high-performance end-to-end Gigabit solutions with aggressive pricing.''
3Com's Gigabit Ethernet over copper NICs and Gigabit Ethernet switches increase the available bandwidth on the network by tenfold and can reduce bottlenecks. Businesses can realize an immediate improvement in performance. The increase in bandwidth provides the ideal aggregation solution for the huge installed base of Fast Ethernet at the network edge.
This new solution supports 3Com's overall strategy to give business networks affordable, simple and high-performing Gigabit Ethernet. 3Com offers enterprises the five essentials that they need from networking to meet the demands of today's business requirements - more bandwidth, converged voice/data, security, mobility and Web applications with simplified network management.
This Gigabit Ethernet over copper NIC is the first new product resulting from 3Com's strategic alliance with Broadcom. 3Com's alliance with Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM - news) allows 3Com to aggressively price the Gigabit Ethernet NIC and accelerate the move from Fast Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. The alliance was formed to capitalize on each company's strengths and dramatically accelerate the deployment of Gigabit Ethernet into business networks.
Pricing and Availability
The 3Com 10/100/1000BASE-T PCI-X server network interface card is now available for a suggested retail price of $219 (U.S. list). These connections support all popular operating systems including Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Novell Netware, and Linux 2.2. These network interface cards are sampling at a wide range of server manufacturer and customer sites.
Also shipping today, the 3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 4900 4-port 1000BASE-T module provides four switched Gigabit Ethernet 1000BASE-T ports for cost effective copper Gigabit connectivity at the U.S. list price of $1,600. The 3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 4900 4-port 1000BASE-LX module is now available for the U.S. list price of $6,000 for deployment in Gigabit networks using multimode and single-mode fiber with distance requirements longer than 550 meters. Both modules are designed for use with the 12-port SuperStack 3 Switch 4900 for the U.S. list price of $4,995 and the SuperStack 3 Switch 4900 Sx for the U.S. list price of $7,200 and complement the existing SuperStack 3 Switch 4900 4-port 1000BASE-SX module. |
