3Com Broadens ATM Family

3Com Combines Existing Backbone Solution, New CELLplex Products and
New/Integrated Chipcom Offerings to Form Industry's Largest, Most
Comprehensive ATM Offering

January 31, 1996 -- WASHINGTON, DC -- 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS)
announced a major expansion of its Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) family
of products, here today at ComNet '96. Building on the increasing market
acceptance of its ATM backbone solution, which began shipping six months
ago with full standard LAN Emulation support, 3Com is introducing new ATM
products and enhancements for both its standalone CELLplex ATM switching
products and its multifunction integrated ONcore chassis products.

"3Com now has an wide range of ATM products for a variety of customer
needs," said Bob Finocchio, executive vice president of 3Com Corporation.
"Judging by the large number of ATM wins and installations over the last
six months, 3Com has seen a remarkable increase in market acceptance of
our ATM backbone solution. Now, we have expanded from our foundation to
provide a even wider range ATM products. These new solutions offer our
customers easy ATM migration paths for multiple LAN interfaces, and as the
ATM market grows and changes, our ATM family is best-suited to meet these
needs."

New CELLplex Offerings

3Com is now shipping in volume the industry's first integrated, high-
density Ethernet/ATM switching module -- the 7200 Ethernet/ATM interface
card for the CELLplex 7000 switch. The new 7200 Ethernet/ATM card enables
the CELLplex 7000 to be used both as a backbone switch, or closer to the
edge of the network as a closet device. With the 7200 interface card,
users can optimize ATM port count for backbone use, or increase Ethernet
port density to meet requirements of wiring closet devices -- all in an
integrated chassis solution.

The CELLplex 7000 switch - with 7200 interface cards - supports up to 48
switched Ethernet ports and 12 ATM ports -- an industry first. The 7200
interface card supports OC-3c 155 Mbps interfaces for local and backbone
connections or a 45 Mbps interface for wide area connectivity. The module
features standard (ATM Forum 1.0) LAN Emulation to provide seamless
connectivity between ATM and legacy networks. The 7200 interface card
provides fully redundant ATM/Ethernet chassis switching. The 7200FL (Fiber
Link) Ethernet/ATM interface card provides 12 fiber Ethernet ports and
makes the CELLplex 7000 switch attractive for collapsed backbone
applications using Ethernet throughout the building. The entire
CELLplex-based ATM network is managed with Transcend Enterprise Manager,
which provides easy and powerful virtual LAN management.

The 7200 interface card brings added power to 3Com's ATM backbone solution
and helps strong market acceptance in large-scale networks. The University
Hospital in Denver is currently deploying more than 50 CELLplex switches
with 7200 interface cards into its core 3,000- user network, constituting
one of the world's largest ATM-based networks.

"We require tremendous bandwidth for our Hospital network, and this need
will continue to grow rapidly as we move more medical applications such as
X-rays and imaging onto our network," said Matt Spencer, Director of
Network Services, Telecommunications and End User Computing at University
Hospital. "We feel that 3Com has the best ATM backbone solution today with
standards-based, integrated ATM and Ethernet switching. The company has
worked closely with us to bring our large-scale ATM networking ideas to
fruition."

3Com's Integrated, High-Density ATM/Fast Ethernet Switching Solution

To even further broaden CELLplex 7000 switch market reach into the
high-growth Fast Ethernet market, 3Com today announced its integrated,
high-density 7600 Fast Ethernet interface card. The CELLplex 7000 switch
with the 7600 interface card installed supports any combination of ATM and
Fast Ethernet switching.

The 7600 interface card offers 16 Fast Ethernet ports, and combined in a
four module configuration in the CELLplex chassis, the 7600 offers an
unparalleled port density of 64 Fast Ethernet switching utilizing a 2.5
Gbps ATM switching engine. Target pricing for the 7600 interface card is
US$1,000 per port.

With these latest additions, the CELLplex switch is a complete ATM/LAN
collapsed solution that delivers high function ATM switching through its
integrated ATM switching, LAN interfaces, LAN Emulation services,
standards-based software support and powerful network management with
Transcend.

New CELLplex 2.2 Software Delivers ATM-Based High Function Switching

3Com also announced today a new software version for the CELLplex family,
featuring enhanced technology to enable more flexible, large- scale and
robust ATM networks. Building on its standard LAN Emulation (ATM Forum
1.0), SVC signaling and network management features that it delivered
first to market, these new features include enhanced IISP support and LAN
Emulation Services redundancy. The enhanced IISP support provides
automated routing table configuration load sharing and redundancy to ease
network set-up and to bring enhanced flexibility and robustness for large
network topologies. The redundant LES/BUS (LAN emulation server/broadcast
and unknown server) feature provides fault tolerance to emulated LANs and
can prevent single points of failure for mission critical networks.
CELLplex 2.2 software is available today.

Complete, Interoperable ATM Solution With 3Com's ONcore Solution

3Com today announced full interoperability and integrated management
between CELLplex-based ATM networks and 155 Mbps ATM switching in the
ONcore system. ONcore offers 3Com customers a complete, multifunction hub
with switching and repeating of all LANs -- and ATM switching -- in one
fault-tolerant platform. 3Com is also announcing integrated LAN-ATM
functionality for the ONcore ATM switching products. The new LAN-ATM
module for the ONcore Integrated System features up to four Ethernet or
Token Ring LAN ports which are switched to the internal ATM fabric.

3Com Supports ATM-25 For Next-Generation Desktops

3Com also announced today its plans for support of desktop 25 Mbps ATM
solutions across its product line. The company's latest complete solutions
for desktop ATM networking will include the following:

ATM-25 ADAPTER CARDS: ISA card now available.

ATM-25 INTERFACE FOR THE ONCORE INTEGRATED SYSTEM: Featuring up to 12 ports
per slot, or over 150 ports per hub, the ONcore System provides a powerful
chassis solution for ATM-25.

STANDALONE ATM-25 SWITCHING: 3Com will also expand the CELLplex product
line to include a workgroup ATM-25 switch. The new CELLplex 4000 supports
16 25 Mbps ports, with integrated LAN Emulation services and 155 Mbps
downlinks.

"3Com's relationship with IBM is enabling us to broaden our ATM product
offering and to provide solutions which are interoperable across multiple
vendors," said Nachman Shelef, vice president and general manager of
3Com's ATM division. "With the latest 25 and155 Mbps ATM switching
capability for the ONcore system, 3Com now provides a powerful
multifunction solution that is fully interoperable and inter-manageable
with our CELLplex-based ATM products. We can now enable ATM to the desktop
from 25 Mbps to 155 Mbps, in both stackable and chassis-based platforms.
All together, this ATM portfolio offers customers a wide range of choices
to meet their specific needs."

Next-Generation ATM Technology Plans

3Com is developing next-generation ATM technology that will focus on three
major areas: advanced ATM switching, ATM software and edge- device
technology. This technology will be implemented throughout 3Com's existing
and future product families -- including CELLplex- and ONcore-based
platforms. 3Com and IBM have agreed to continue collaborating on
integration of leading ATM technology into the ONcore System, combining
elements of each company's extensive technology portfolio. 3Com's
advanced

ATM switching technology enables up to 50 Gbps of performance as well as
scalable interface capability from 25 Mbps to 1.2 Gbps. This technology
will enable 3Com's ATM platforms to support up to 200 OC-3 ports. 3Com
plans to integrate this technology in early 1997.

3Com ATM Product Availability

In addition to offering CELLplex- and ONcore-based ATM network platforms,
3Com is incrementally leveraging it existing switching technology to
provide ATM interface solutions across its broad product family. This
includes ATM interfaces for its highly successful LinkSwitch stackable
switching products, LANplex chassis-based switches and NetBuilder II
routers. In addition, a series of high-performance ATM adapters, both for
155 Mbps and 25 Mbps data rates, are available now. Listed below are
details on product availability and pricing, where available:

Product Specs                               ATM Availability
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Switches: Super Stack
LinkSwitch 1000 24 Ethernet ports with ATM         2H 1996
LinkSwitch 2700 12 Ethernet ports with ATM         Shipping
LinkSwitch 3000 6 Fast Ethernet ports with ATM     2H 1996
LinkSwitch 2000 12 Token Ring ports with ATM       2H

3Com Corporation has helped more than 25 million people gain access to
critical information through high speed networks. Designed to serve large
enterprises, small offices and homes, 3Com products provide a scalable
architecture to meet the immediate and long term connectivity needs of
today's user. With research and development on three continents, 3Com is
one of the data networking industry's largest and fastest growing
companies. The company's innovative marketing, sales and support simplify
communication, optimize network reliability and protect customer
investments.
 
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