3Com
Corporation
Founded on June 4, 1979 in the San Francisco Bay Area
by Bob Metcalfe,
the principal inventor of a networking protocol called
Ethernet. The name, 3Com, combines the things the company
sought to bring together: Computer, Communications and
Compatibility. 3Com was launched on the power of its
founder's insight that later became known as Metcalfe's
law; namely that usefulness or utility of a network
equals the square of the number of users.
In
1983, 3Com introduced the first network interface card
that connected the IBM PC into Ethernet networks. At
first, computers were connected together in local area
networks (LANs), so people in workgroups could more
easily share information such as spreadsheets and resources
such as printers and servers. Then, network applications
- email for example - were developed and these applications
ignited the demand to connect workgroups together into
enterprise-wide networks.
During
the 1980s and 1990s, 3Com became a worldwide leader
building the networks that linked people and enterprises
into this new world of commerce and communications.
Besides making the equipment that connected computers
to a network, 3Com invented the hubs, switches and routers
that interconnected individuals, workgroups, enterprises
and networks. |
