This is likely posted but just in case:
3Com Plans Modem Line-Ups For Consumers, Business
Newsbytes - January 15, 1998 14:50
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BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1998 JAN 15 (NB) -- By Jacqueline Emigh, Newsbytes. 3Com Corp. [NASDAQ:COMS] plans to consolidate current modem line-ups originating from both 3Com and US Robotics into two new product families, one to be aimed at consumers, and the other at businesses, according to a 3Com VP.
Speaking with Newsbytes last night in Boston during 3Com's annual press and analysts' dinner, 3Com VP Reginald Best said that 3Com is also moving more and more strongly in the direction of remote access products that will run interchangeably on a variety of transports, including ISDN (integrated services digital networks), DSL, and traditional copper wiring.
To illustrate the need for multiple transports, Best used the example of a V.PCN-compliant, analog dual-port router from 3Com, now in beta.
The new OfficeConnect router will provide two ports, each offering 56K in bandwidth, which can be "tied together," the VP said at the 3Com press event, attended by Newsbytes at the Bay Tower Room in Boston.
3Com will target the new analog device at small businesses and homes in parts of the world not yet wired for ISDN, he added. About 20 percent of the US still fits into this category, along with many other sections of the globe, Newsbytes was told.
On the whole, however, 3Com anticipates an upswing in demand for ISDN remote access, according to Best, who is VP and general manager of 3Com's Remote Access Products Division.
Currently, about one-third of all sales revenues for the Remote Access Products Division are derived from ISDN products, estimated Best, projecting that this proportion will rise to about 50 percent one year from now.
Other offerings of the Remote Access Products Division include 3Com's Impact modem line-up and a series of business modems inherited through 3Com's acquisition of US Robotics. Another division of 3Com produces cable modems, and a third division is dedicated to consumer modems from the USR side of the fence, he said.
Best predicted that Motorola's recently announced decision to exit the low-end modem market will create strong market opportunities for 3Com. Demand for 3Com's remote access products is especially hot at the moment in Eastern Europe, he asserted.
Best also pointed out that 3Com deploys its own remote access products extensively on an internal basis. Best's own household, for instance, is equipped an OfficeConnect ISDN modem from 3Com -- allowing Best to access 3Com, and his wife, an educator, to do research over the Internet, from a pair of attached notebook PCs. Best said that a third notebook will be added to the ISDN configuration soon, since their oldest child is now getting old enough to use the Web in connection with schoolwork.
3Com has not yet decided on the names for its upcoming new product line-ups for consumers and businesses, according to the 3Com VP.
Also during the 3Com press event in Boston, Alan Kessler, senior VP of 3Com's Global Enterprise Systems Sales & Service, cited Cabletron's newly announced purchase of Yago, and Bay Networks' plans to acquire New Oak Communications, as further signs of industry consolidation.
"Bay Networks needed New Oak for VPN (virtual private networking)," maintained Kiran Narsu, an analyst at Giga Information Group, speaking with Newsbytes during the event.
Ron Sege, senior VP of 3Com's Enterprise Systems Division, told Newsbytes that the Bay/New Oak deal appears to aimed at giving Bay quick access to large numbers of Internet POPs (points of presence).
Sege added that 3Com expects DSL to be particularly popular in Europe, an area of the world without the large cable infrastructure already existing in the US.
More information about 3Com is available on the World Wide Web at 3com.com .
(19980115/Press Contact: Dave Hayward, 3Com, 978-264-1773)
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