| U.S. Executives Manage Asian Operations from Home Using Unique "Computer" Telephone and Secure Gateway |
| Leading California Manufacturer Cuts Costs as Key Executives Make Private, Toll-Free Connections to Taipei and Singapore From Home Using 3Com® Voice and Data Solution |
|
SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 17, 2003 — As a leading California-based manufacturer of hardware equipment for handheld computers, Northstar Systems, Inc., must work closely with its engineering office in Taipei, Republic of China, to manage projects and monitor production in its Asian factories. Because of time difference, the 2,000-employee firm's top decision-makers previously spent most evenings in their offices calling and e-mailing Taipei. Today, however, using a secure cable/DSL gateway router and a converged voice and data solution from 3Com Corporation (Nasdaq: COMS), they're home at night, dialing simple four-digit extensions to reach staff an ocean away. Using 3Com's OfficeConnect® Cable/DSL Secure Gateway and NBX® phones, Northstar's CEO and chief operating officer speak nightly from their home offices with the CFO and project managers in Taipei to plan production and check the status of deliverables in the firm's factories in the Republic of China and Singapore. Northstar's decision to deploy the 3Com solution arose from its need to make communication with Taipei more convenient for its U.S. executives and to decrease its long-distance calling charges. The company installed 3Com OfficeConnect Secure Cable/DSL Gateways at executives' home offices to enable their 3Com NBX phones and PCs to share single broadband Internet connections. The 3Com gateways, coupled with the NBX 100 Communication Systems at the firm's Rancho Cucamonga headquarters and Santa Clara office, now give at-home managers the ability to make crystal-clear toll-free calls with Taipei over the Internet using secure virtual private networks (VPNs). "3Com has given us a highly reliable and secure Cable/DSL gateway solution that delivers top quality voice and data communications to our senior managers' home offices," said Christian Hummel, vice president of IT, Northstar. "The converged 3Com voice and data solution also reduced our monthly leasing costs from $3,100 for our legacy PBX system to $1,700 - providing an outstanding return on investment." The 3Com gateway lets Northstar executives view production floor and security cameras in the factories through their Web browsers, giving them a real-time picture of work activity. The gateways also allow executives to rapidly and securely exchange email and view sales and financial data via the Internet through access to Northstar's two US sites that operate on a SuperStack® 3 Switch 4400-based Fast Ethernet network. In addition, the gateways' built-in firewalls help keep the home networks out of harm's way. The gateway additionally helps colleagues more easily reach Northstar's senior managers due to its support for the NBX system's bridged extensions feature. Because of this feature, executives' phone will ring simultaneously in both their home and workplace offices. Northstar's vice president of information technology also uses the 3Com gateway to link his home network to corporate network and remain accessible to the firm's nighttime workers. Simple, Powerful Global Communications Northstar deployed its 3Com solution primarily to simplify its communications and reduce its costs. To find the solution, Northstar evaluated voice systems from Cisco, Avaya and NEC and conducted extensive field tests of gateways from Asante, D-Link, Linksys and 3Com. The firm selected 3Com voice, data and gateway systems due to their superior ease of use and price/performance. The 3Com networked telephony system's support of virtual tie lines, among other advanced capabilities, and the gateway's support of VPN initiation/termination and stateful packet inspection firewall were also decisive factors. "The 3Com secure gateway and voice and data solution are helping our senior management keep their fingers on the pulse of our company's global operations and making us a more efficient and productive organization, " concluded Hummel. 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, the 3Com logo, OfficeConnect, NBX and SuperStack are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective holders. |
| This press release was accurate at the time it was issued but may not reflect 3Com's current strategy or product offering. |
