3Com chief wants out of the shadows
Largest networker: Hopes consumer oriented devices will bring company to the forefront
By DREW HASSELBACK The Financial Post
About halfway through Eric Benhamou's keynote speech at a Vancouver computer convention yesterday, the laptop driving his presentation program ran out of battery power.
The huge screen was left with an embarrassing message warning Mr. Benhamou to switch off the computer before the laptop switched off itself.
It was an inadvertent reminder that technology is not perfect.
Considering the point Mr. Benhamou was trying to make in his speech -- if computer networking isn't already part of our lives, it will be sooner than we think -- it was a reminder of how computer glitches still make many people skeptical as to the importance of computers.
Mr. Benhamou is chairman and chief executive of 3Com Corp., one of the world's largest computer networking companies.
Some networking gurus consider him to be one of the most important behind-the-scenes people in his industry. Network World magazine lists Mr. Benhamou as number four on its list of the 25 most important people in the networking business. This was ahead of America Online's Steve Case (number six), personal computer vendor Michael Dell (number nine), and omnipresent Microsoft mogul, Bill Gates (number 14).
3Com designs and sells the switches and modems that connect many personal computers to the Internet.
Most of its customers are institutions and Internet service providers. In other words, the companies and institutions you use to connect to the Internet are probably themselves connected to the Internet using 3Com products.
By Mr. Benhamou's own estimation, 225 million people are connected using 3Com technology.
In addition, 3Com is the owner of computer brand names, modem manufacturer U.S. Robotics Corp., and sells the most popular hand-held computing device, the PalmPilot III.
Mr. Benhamou is hoping consumer oriented devices will bring 3Com out of the shadows and into the forefront of people's minds.
While 3Com has several serious competitors in the network switching market -- networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. dwarfs much of the competition in the field -- products such as the PalmPilot will increase 3Com's profile, at least in the small business and consumer markets.
In the coming years, Mr. Benhamou is convinced our notions of separate communications systems, such as telephone lines, computer lines, and television cable, will be replaced by signal connections.
In the consolidation of communication, or convergence, Mr. Benhamou is hoping gadgets such as the PalmPilot will play a key role in the new world of communication.
To that end, 3Com is experimenting with a new version of the of the hand held computer called PalmPilot VII, which will allow users to maintain schedules and phone numbers, and also perform basic Internet functions, such as send and receive e-mail and perform limited Web browsing.
To pull this off, PalmPilot VII will require Web producers to scale down Web sites so the palm top won't have to suck up as much battery juice in displaying high memory graphics -- an ironic move, given yesterday's presentation.
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