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

To: chenys who wrote (20063)	8/2/1998 10:06:00 PM
From: joe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 45548

>>I don't see any benefit coms would have to keep the modem business unless it can get into a technology that is 5 years ahead from the competitors and make it a standard!<< The idea behind COMS making money in modems is that modems are probably going to be around longer than you think. COMS will be the best at making them because 1) it can tweak them and make them work better than anybody else 2) it can make them cheaper than anybody else. These modems will be selling WORLD-WIDE, not just in the US. Even if the US is so advanced, that it doesn't need 56K modems, it will take the rest of the world a while to catch up. Also, IMO, it's very unlikely that xDSL and Cable Modems are going to sprint ahead of 56K Modems. (COMS will still be very competitive in these areas anyways). xDSL and Cable have been promised for years by the telco's and have they done anything? There are incompatibilities that make 56K modem problems look like kindergarden. And, the prices on these poducts are astronomical compared to 56K modems. IMO, the xDSL and Cable modems are just a lot of hype at this point. They still have miles to go before they are universal, convenient and as cheap to use as the public needs and as compared to 56K modems. Everybody's looking for an easy solution to replace 56K modems and improve bandwidth. There is none. joe

To: chenys who wrote (20063)	8/2/1998 10:56:00 PM
From: simonds	Respond to of 45548

He may not think it's a mistake (in long term). Admitting mistake would be devastating to the USRX employees. Anyway, it's a hindsight. If there're lessons on this it, IMO would be: 1) When you buy a company, people are the most important assets. I would get commitment from USRX top insiders NOT to sell their stock for about 2 years until the integration is worked out. If they decline, the purchase price should be cut down. 2) All bets are off when you buy technology that's in the middle of standards war. I think 3Com was blinded by the prospect of TotalControl side of the business. They probably thought that the consumer modem side would also push the sales of TotalControl. As for the consolidation or convergence, I think 3Com will survive it just fine; it has many different products that'll keep it afloat. Moving forward, I just wish that 3Com would fix its marketing ASAP. It's got all these good stuff, but doesn't know how to sell it. And it's going to take the new COO a while to figure out.