SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 1998--
Next-Generation WANs to Deliver Converged Voice, Video and Data
Networks with Reduced Costs and Full LAN/WAN Integration
3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS) announced today the new
PathBuilder(TM) wide area network (WAN) access switches and new
virtual private networking (VPN) software for its NETBuilder(R) family
of routers - the next steps in its plan to deliver end-to-end
converged networks to business enterprises. The new solutions extend
the consolidation of voice, video and data transmission beyond local
area networks (LANs) to include WANs for full enterprise-wide
desktop-to-desktop converged applications, potentially reducing WAN
costs 30 percent or more and substantially increasing the overall
performance of enterprise networks. These new converged network
solutions are suitable for large, medium and small businesses.
3Com's LAN and WAN converged networking solutions offer the
unique combined advantages of a single enterprise-wide network
infrastructure, end-to-end network management and control, realtime
performance and higher reliability, superior performance scalability,
desktop-to-desktop quality of service, and lower cost of ownership.
The new 3Com PathBuilder WAN access switches give customers the
flexibility to build converged networks over any high-speed networking
technology that fits their needs, including ATM, Frame Relay, SONET
and the Internet. New extranet switching VPN software for 3Com's
entire line of NETBuilder routers is a major step ahead in giving
customers the ability to replace expensive leased lines with lower
cost Internet services for converged applications.
"3Com is delivering again in rapid succession on its leading
end-to-end networking strategy for building converged networks for
supporting voice, video and data applications all the way to the
desktop," said Ron Sege, senior vice president, 3Com Enterprise
Business Unit. "With the PathBuilder WAN switches, CoreBuilder 9000
and CoreBuilder 3500 switches, 3Com is a year ahead of its competitors
for providing the steps for building next-generation enterprise
networks."
"3Com has a coherent and consistent vision of the next-generation
network, delivering voice, video and data applications to the desktop
over a unified, switched, policy-defined network," said Jennifer Pigg,
senior market analyst at the Yankee Group. "With these WAN
announcements, 3Com continues to reinforce and provide detail to that
vision. The industry is at an inflection point in dominant traffic
type - voice versus data - and network technology - packet/frame/cell
versus circuit switching. 3Com is one of a handful of networking
companies with the experience and insight to define a roadmap through
the period of change and the power to deliver on that vision."
New Breed of WAN Solutions Carries Convergence for Enterprises
The new solutions introduce new WAN access switches - under the
PathBuilder brand name. Delivering Class of Service (CoS) and
Quality of Service (QoS) across the enterprise, these solutions
extend converged campus applications across the WAN in a seamless
manner, offer sophisticated voice, video and data capabilities
enabling enterprises to reduce WAN costs by collapsing multiple WAN
networks; and increase WAN performance by allocating scarce WAN
bandwidth dynamically among multiple applications.
The PathBuilder switches, which will be available starting in
June, includes:
-- PathBuilder S36170 WAN switch - carrier-class switch for the
largest enterprises, derived from 3Com's alliance with Newbridge
Networks. Price starting at $50,000.
-- PathBuilder S700 WAN switch - scaleable WAN access switching
for larger sites. Price starting at $35,000.
-- PathBuilder S600 WAN access switch - enhanced AccessBuilder(R)
9600 switch with new switching, voice and video capabilities. Price at
$35,000.
-- SuperStack(R) II PathBuilder S310 & S330 access switches
(enhanced AccessBuilder 9300 and 9100 product offering) - low cost
access switches with added voice and video routing capabilities for
branch office and small office platforms. Prices starting at $6,000.
-- PathBuilder access switches - voice/data access for Frame
Relay and Internet; available in second half of 1998
The PathBuilder switches offer extensive voice capabilities
including circuit emulation with dynamic bandwidth allocation, voice
compression and voice call routing. Sophisticated video routing
capabilities allow H.320 and H.323 video connections across low cost
converged WANs. TranscendWare(TM) software, running in all 3Com products
including the PathBuilder WAN switches, provides the management and
control necessary to deliver converged applications across the entire
network - including mapping priorities and policies from the desktop
to LAN and across the WAN.
Harnessing the Internet
Through a number of initiatives, 3Com is addressing the lack of
privacy, security and QOS has inhibited enterprises from taking
advantage of the Internet for many business and converged
applications. Today, 3Com announced the availability of new solutions
to harness the Internet for business applications -- extranet switching
software capabilities which guarantee security and privacy to
corporations doing business across the Internet.
The new extranet switching capabilities includes new industry
standard PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) and MPPE (Microsoft
Point-to-Point Encryption) software for the full NETBuilder family of
routers (NETBuilder II, SuperStack II NETBuilder and OfficeConnect(R)
NETBuilder products) With new software enhancements available on the
NETBuilder family of routers, 3Com customers can now upgrade their
networks by rolling out new Internet VPN applications including Global
Internet Based Remote Access to existing 3Com NETBuilder routers,
thereby protecting investment and lowering overall VPN deployment
costs, extranets connecting business partners and Virtual Leased Line
connections to small remote. Internet VPNs are predicted to reduce the
costs of remote access networks by 60-80% over existing solutions,
while extranets increase business productivity and effectiveness. |
