3Com gets aggressive, integrates H3C in APAC

3Com Corporation has announced an integrated go-to-market strategy and
broader product portfolio in the Asia-Pacific Region (APR). It has also unveiled
a unified sales and support organization for the region.

While addressing the media at 3Com Asia Pacific Media Event in Singapore,
Edgar Masri, CEO, 3Com said that the integration brings a wining combination for
3Com in the APR, especially in China. “Over the last three years, 3Com has
gained 30 percent marketshare in China in switches and routers market from just
10 percent initially. We feel the integration will give us the advantage to
go-to-market swiftly as we can leverage H3C Technologies' R&D and market
leadership already existing in China,” he added. On March 29, 2007, 3Com
acquired the remaining 49 percent of H3C Technologies of China, giving it full
100 percent ownership. With H3C's integration completed, 3Com will be able to
leverage H3C's research and development capabilities. Branding will be key to
reach out to customers through channel program. While details were not revealed
on branding strategy, Masri said that 3Com would take a tiered branding
approach. “We shall leverage the branding of both 3Com and H3C and will put in
place a tiered branding by six to eight months,” he added.

Edgar Masri, CEO, 3Com giving a presentation at the 3Com Asia Pacific Media Event held in Singapore

3Com has begun to integrate channels of both bases and plans to launch a
revamped service program in October 2007 that will essentially focus on
enablement of products, and evangelize the portfolio of low-cost, high-quality
secure converged networking solutions from 3Com. The company also plans to
involve royalty programs for its partners.

Comparing India with China, Masri said, “The market opportunity in India is
an unexploited one. India is still building its physical infrastructure, which
mostly precedes the requirement for networking solutions. I think India will
take another four years to reach where China is currently, in terms of its
networking needs, but we are closely watching the space.”

3Com has recently appointed a Country Manager in India, who is to join the
board on July 20, 2007. Looking forward, 3Com is aggressively promoting open
source to develop products that are low-cost. This is part of its Open Source
Networking (OSN) initiative that enables best of breed applications on Linux
blades into 3Com's switches and routers.

Malovika Rao

(The author was hosted by 3Com in Singapore)