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

To: jach who wrote (31320)	5/28/1999 7:21:00 AM
From: kfdkfd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45548

3Com Poised To Launch E-Commerce Web Site By Kristen Kenedy Santa Clara, Calif. 6:38 PM EST Thurs., May 27, 1999 3Com Corp. has formed an electronic-business group that will spearhead a solutions-based electronic-commerce site as part of a companywide reorganization. The site, expected to launch this fall, will help customers find a complete configured solution for their networking needs. 3Com, Santa Clara, plans to feature its own products as well as complementary offerings from other companies, said Neil Clemmons, 3Com vice president of consumer marketing. For example, a small-business customer looking for a Web server will be able to find all the necessary components, from 3Com's communications products to Web-hosting software, Clemmons said. The increasingly complicated nature of communications and networking is requiring vendors and resellers to move toward a packaged sale, said Fran Firth, senior analyst at Cahners In-Stat, a research firm in Newton, Mass. Vendors and VARs "need to offer complete solutions out of the box, and that is really what they have to do to win over the customer," Firth said. "More and more companies are working toward that." 3Com will focus on referring the customer to a local VAR and in some cases will forward the desired configuration list directly to the VAR, Clemmons said. "We can help to model some of these activities, which resellers can pick up on to offer to their customers," Clemmons said. Customers also will have the option to purchase directly from the site. As part of the reorganization, 3Com organized its channel sales division by geographic region, "resulting in some duplication and layoffs," said Clemmons. He declined to release the specific number of jobs cut but said it is an "insignificant" percentage of the company's overall employee count. The new site and company reorganization are meant to start 3Com out on a new foot when its fiscal year 2000 begins in June. Lower prices on items such as network adapters is putting pressure on 3Com to find ways to cut costs out of the supply chain and increase margins, said 3Com officials.