3Com Honored by the American Productivity & Quality Center for Innovative Call Center Practices

Business Wire, July 14, 1999

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 14, 1999--

Company Recognized as a Best Practice Organization

in Internet-Based Call Centers

3Com Corp. (Nasdaq:COMS) today announced that it has been recognized as a best practices organization by the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) for its innovation in call center practices using Internet-based technology.

APQC's recent consortium benchmarking study, Call Centers and the Internet: Enhancing Customer Contact, recognized 3Com for its innovative and quality practices in knowledge collection and dissemination, via its 3Com(R) Knowledgebase Web Service and use of Internet-based technology.

"3Com's commitment to providing extensive online support is evident through the company's initiatives to facilitate customer self-sufficiency and to maintain 24X7 availability of its extensive knowledge base to customers, partners and employees," said Chris Cates, APQC study project manager.

"These initiatives serve as part of the organization's efforts to leverage the Web, reduce costs, and continually improve customer satisfaction."

3Com was one of only eight companies recognized by APQC(R) and the 20 sponsoring organizations as having innovative online customer support mechanisms in place, enabling the company to keep pace with changing technology while managing the growing expectations of its customers.

As a best practice organization, 3Com completed a screening survey and detailed questionnaire, hosted a site visit for several of the sponsor organizations, and presented at a knowledgs. The following achievements were recognized buct bug information -- 3Com's ability to continually feed an extensive knowledge base

while adhering to high quality content standards -- Generation of frequentck to drive the 3Com

Knowledgebase Web Service content

     "Online customer service tools and the use of knowledge
management to support our customers have bm's Online Knowledge Center

     3Com's widely used online support tool, the 3Com Knowledgebase
Web service, is an interactive tool containing technical product
solutid distributing this
information widely, 3Com isdgebase Web Service, 3Com technical engineers
aitory of engineering expertise
allows collective knowledge to be conveniently stored in a format that
can be searched, sorted, retrieved and transmitted easily and
cost-ith Response Design Corp., APQC's
consortium beess,
as well as maintaining and measuring the sated with providing online customer
support. Twenty
industry leading companies from the telecommunications, b6 or visit APQC's
Web site at www.apqc.org.

vative information access
products and network system solutions to large, medium and small
enterprises; carriers and network service providers; PC OEMs; and
consumers. 3Com -- More connected(TM). For further information, visit
3Com's press site at www.3com.com/pressbox.

     About the American Product and Quality Center

     Founded in 1977, the Houston-based American Productivity &
Quality Center provides organizations with the knowledge, training,
and methods to help them improve productivity and quality. A nonprofit
organization and a recognized leader in benchmarking and best-practice
information, APQC serves its 500-plus members in all sectors of
business, industry, education, and government.

     Note to Editors: 3Com is a registered trademark and More
connected is a trademark of 3Com Corp. APQC is a registered trademark
of the American Productivity & Quality Center. All other company and
product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which
they are associated.