Business Services Industry

3Com Future-Proofs Wireless Installations with New Modular Wireless Access Points Offering Both 802.11a and 802.11b Connectivity

Business Wire, March 12, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 12, 2003

New Access Points Allow Mix and Match with Dual Radio Slots,

Giving Customers Added Flexibility to Keep Costs Down

Businesses no longer have to choose one wireless networking flavor over the other. They can now implement and take advantage of both the widely available connectivity of 802.11b and 802.11a's higher transmission speeds and less crowded frequency while keeping costs down. Today, 3Com Corporation (Nasdaq: COMS) announced a new line of modular wireless LAN access points and upgrade kits that offer customers the ability to easily bring the newer 802.11a wireless standard into their network while preserving their investment in existing wireless technology.

"3Com continues to drive innovations that offer practical solutions for customers," said John Yoon, senior director, wireless and security product management, 3Com Corporation. "The modular design of our new wireless LAN access points is a perfect example: customers can now select the configuration of radios to best fit their organization while removing the need to purchase additional add-ons like power devices and antennas."

The new wireless products include:

-- the 3Com(R) Wireless LAN Access Point 8200 with 802.11b radio;

-- the 3Com Wireless LAN Access Point 8500 with 802.11a radio; and

-- the 3Com Wireless LAN Access Point 8700 with 802.11a and 802.11b radios.

All three access points offer two configurable radio slots so that customers can upgrade or change the radio boards to accommodate new technology or better serve the existing radio needs of an organization. The 3Com Wireless LAN Upgrade Kit is available in either 802.11b or 802.11a and comes with a radio board, an antenna board, and necessary accessories to allow the customer to easily install the upgrade into the access point.

While 802.11b operates in the 2.4 GHz band with 11 Mbps average connection rate and 802.11a operates in the 5GHz band with a connection rate of 54 Mbps, the access points help to minimize any radio interference through a unique physical design. For those organizations demanding even higher speeds, 3Com's 802.11a radios offers "turbo mode" which boosts the throughput speed up to 72 Mbps. Since the access points are standards-based, they interoperate with most third-party client solutions available on the market.

Offering the most robust standards-based security on the market, the new access points provide support for 40-bit WEP and 128-bit shared key encryption, IEEE 802.1x, EAP-MD5, EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, and PEAP Authentication. For user authentication, the access points support 802.1x and will work with any existing RADIUS authentication server.

The access points can be easily managed using 3Com Network Supervisor, a powerful yet easy-to-use management application. The software enables network managers to configure wireless devices and distribute software upgrades simultaneous to multiple wireless devices.

In addition, the access points offer Power over Ethernet based on the IEEE P802.af draft industry standard.

Pricing and Availability

    Product Name                              Price

    3Com Wireless LAN Access Point 8200       $ 749 (U.S. List)

    3Com Wireless LAN Access Point 8500       $ 849 (U.S. List)

    3Com Wireless LAN Access Point 8700       $1099 (U.S. List)

    3Com 802.11a Wireless LAN Access Point
    Upgrade Kit                               $ 349 (U.S. List)

    3Com 802.11b Wireless LAN Access Point
    Upgrade Kit                               $ 249 (U.S. List)

While the Access Point 8200 is available now, all other access points and upgrade kits listed are expected to be available at the end of March.

About 3Com Corporation

3Com is a tier-one provider of innovative, practical and high-value networking products for enterprises of all sizes and public sector organizations. 3Com is also a leader in providing Internet protocol (IP) service platforms and access infrastructure for network service providers. For further information, please visit www.3com.com, or the press site www.3com.com/pressbox.> 3Com and the 3Com logo are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.