3Com Announces Aggressive Pricing On Best Selling PCI Network
Interface Card - 08:08 a.m. Apr 15, 1998 Eastern
Ethernet Leader Targets Small Business and Emerging Market
Segments With Lower Price Point on 10 Mbps PCI NIC
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 1998--
Recognizing the trend towards PCI bus migration in 10 Mbps Ethernet,
3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS) took action to better serve the 10
Mbps PCI network interface card (NIC) market by reducing the price of
the award-winning EtherLink(R) XL PCI NIC by 46%.
Effective today, this price cut is expected to accelerate the growth
and deployment of 3Com's EtherLink XL PCI NIC primarily in the small
business and corporate legacy networks where standard Ethernet
satisfies bandwidth requirements.
"The 10 Mbps NIC market, estimated at 16 million units this year, has
matured but still continues to grow particularly in the small business,
emerging markets and corporate legacy network sectors," said Jim Jones,
director of marketing for 3Com's Ethernet Products Division.
"Through this price reduction, 3Com fills the need for these markets
which require a highly reliable connection coupled with an aggressive
price." The PCI Future With 50% worldwide market share in 10 Mbps
Ethernet NICs, 3Com is clearly paving the way for continued growth in
the PCI-bus segment as new 10 Mbps installations require PCI NICs.
Microsoft and leading PC OEMs are expected to cause a major market
shift this year as the PC98 specifications require networking to be
implemented in the PCI slot. Today, many top PC manufacturers are
releasing systems with PCI as the standard expansion bus due to the
distinct advantages including:
Speed -- The PCI bus has 32-bit data path, vs. 16-bit for
ISA. PCI is also a faster bus, running at 33 MHz vs. ISA's 8
MHz. These differences mean that the PCI bus processes data
faster across the bus to the subsystem memory, resulting in
optimized system performance;
Ease-of-use -- PCI provides true plug and play. Through the
bus, the NIC can automatically identify itself to the PC and
automatically configure its own memory address allocation
and IRQs dramatically minimizing installation issues;
Low CPU Utilization -- a clear advantage over older
technologies, PCI NICs are designed as bus master devices.
With bus mastering, a PCI NIC can request control of the bus
to initiate data transfers into system memory with no system
CPU intervention. As a result, the CPU is free to focus on
other computing tasks during network transfers, providing
faster and more responsive system performance.
EtherLink XL PCI NICs Delivers Performance, Reduced Cost of Ownership
and Reliability
In 1996, 3Com launched its EtherLink XL family of PCI adapters.
Incorporating 3Com Parallel Tasking technology, the EtherLink XL PCI
cards offer superior system performance.
In a comparison of PCI NICs offered by major manufacturers, the 3Com
EtherLink XL PCI NIC achieved significantly higher performance
efficiency rating than competing NICs. This, combined with new low
pricing and 3Com's hallmark quality found in all of their NICs, make
the EtherLink XL PCI NIC perfect for the new 10 Mbps Ethernet customer.
Price Reduction Information
New pricing for the EtherLink XL PCI (3C900-TPO) network interface
card is effective today. Single units as well as five, 20, 60, and
100-packs are available through 3Com's worldwide channel partners.
About 3Com
3Com Corp. 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. The company provides large enterprises, small and medium
enterprises, carriers and network
service providers, and consumers comprehensive, innovative information
access products and system
solutions for building intelligent, reliable and high performance local
and wide area networks. For further
information, visit 3Com's World Wide Web site at 3com.com or the press site at 3com.com.
THIS is exactly what discourages me about 3COM. Giving up profits
for the sake of market share.
o~~~ O |
