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Technology Stocks : 3Com Corporation (COMS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: joe who wrote (17476)	6/16/1998 1:44:00 PM
From: craig crawford	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45548

>> You should wait a little while first, so you can at least make a profit << I do have a profit.

To: joe who wrote (17476)	6/16/1998 1:50:00 PM
From: Narotham Reddy	Respond to of 45548

06/16 13:32 Oracle & 3Com Confirm Palmtop Strategic Alliance Narotham

To: joe who wrote (17476)	6/16/1998 1:53:00 PM
From: Narotham Reddy	Respond to of 45548

3Com's CEO Denies Talk Of Imminent Resignation Plans June 16, 1998 By MARK BOSLET Dow Jones Newswires NEW YORK -- Computer-networking equipment maker 3Com Corp. plans to name a chief operating officer but Chief Executive Eric Benhamou said he has no plans to step aside after the appointment. Rumors of Mr. Benhamou possibly leaving the company have circulated on Wall Street over the past couple of weeks but have no basis, Mr. Benhamou said. "These rumors are ill-founded," he said. "I've never thought about this." It is quite natural for people to think of a chief operating officer as an heir apparent, Mr. Benhamou said, but that is not 3Com's primary reason for expanding its upper management ranks. The Santa Clara, Calif., company, whose networking products range from adapter cards and modems to switches, started looking for a chief operating officer this spring as it began to refocus its sales strategy on "converged" networks. The convergence in question is that of data networks and voice networks. Companies are racing to develop products to handle both kinds of traffic over one network. After acquiring US Robotics Corp. last year, 3Com realigned itself into four business units, each focusing on one of four markets: consumer, medium-sized business, large company and carrier. With convergence taking hold, 3Com needs an executive to unify these efforts, Mr. Benhamou said. Mr. Benhamou also noted that 3Com's management team is about the same size it was back when the company had $3 billion in annual revenue; results for the nine months ending March 1 show sales so far this year at more than $4 billion. Executive-recruiting efforts often take six months to a year, but the company is confident its search won't drag out. 3Com has had extensive discussions with several well-qualified people, said Mr. Benhamou, who added he would be surprised if the search took a year. Mr. Benhamou, while emphasizing that he intends to stay with 3Com -- in fact, that he is "more committed" to the company than ever -- added that he does see his role changing somewhat with the addition of a chief operating officer to handle many day-to-day operations. The CEO's role will be more of a "chief strategist" and a lead spokesman for the organization, he said. And while Mr. Benhamou said he would continue to be accountable for the financial performance of the company, he would have more time to spend with customers and other "external constituents." 3Com suffered from swollen inventories and slower growth earlier this year, but has said it relieved that swelling during the fiscal third quarter, which ended March 1. "The problem has been nailed" and "remains under control," Mr. Benhamou said. Pricing pressures in certain networking product categories -- especially among workgroup switches and modems -- increased earlier this year. The company plans to release fourth-quarter results next week. 3Com also plans more aggressive efforts to reach small- and medium-sized businesses. One effort will be to broaden the company's network of resellers from about 20,000 today. "We will probably triple that this year," Mr. Benhamou said. Meanwhile, 3Com will continue to consider acquisitions to expand its product line and opportunities. These acquisitions will be "more narrowly focused and more narrowly defined," he said.