3Com Builds 21st Century Network for Two Urban Schools

SANTA CLARA, Calif., August 21, 2001—3Com Corporation (Nasdaq: COMS) announced today that the public school systems in Norfolk, VA, and Vineland, NJ have chosen end-to-end 3Com® networks to help prepare their students for the 21st century workplace.

Norfolk Public Schools of Norfolk, VA, and Vineland Public Schools of Vineland, NJ, chose end-to-end 3Com network solutions. After evaluating 3Com, Cisco and Nortel products, the 35,000-student Norfolk Public Schools selected $1 million worth of 3Com Gigabit Ethernet switching, wireless and networked telephony solutions. The school system made its selection based on 3Com’s superior price/performance and simple Web-based management.

Vineland Public Schools, which considered 3Com and Cisco, chose 3Com switches, wireless building-to-building bridges and a 3Com firewall for a $200,000 upgrade of its 11,000-user metropolitan area network (MAN).

“3Com’s versatile suite of function-rich, easy-to-use network solutions are ideal for large school districts such as ours,” said Dave Feliciano, district network engineering services manager, Norfolk Public Schools. “From gigabit switching to wireless and voice, 3Com gives us the networking power to prepare our students for higher education and the 21st century workplace at far better value than the competition.”

Renowned for their ease of use and interoperability, 3Com networked telephony and data networking products deliver non-stop availability for educational and corporate customers. 3Com setup wizards make product configuration a breeze, and built-in Web-based management lets users manage their systems on site or remotely via a standard Web browser. In addition, the network management tool, 3Com Network Supervisor, gives IT staff the granular control to easily monitor, support and troubleshoot their networks.

End-to-End Reliability

Norfolk Public Schools is relying on 3Com Gigabit Ethernet networks in its 13 middle and high schools to carry its voice and data traffic and to fulfill its plans for multimedia and distance learning programs. 3Com wireless access points currently give Norfolk students wireless access to an array of computer-based learning and Internet resources. The district is additionally installing 3Com’s award-winning NBX® 100 Communications System in classrooms to boost parent/teacher communications and to provide an extra measure of security in case of emergencies.

“Our 3Com solutions assure that we have the fast, reliable, end-to-end network access our academic programs require and the communications reach to protect our children when and where we need to,” said Feliciano.

Like Norfolk, Vineland Public Schools deployed a wide array of 3Com systems to improve its computer-based learning programs and district-wide communications. Using the new 3Com Switch 4005 Layer 3 switch, the district upgraded the six core buildings in its 20-building MAN to Gigabit Ethernet.

With the new networks, Vineland students and teachers now enjoy speedy access to multimedia classroom applications, distance learning resources and the Internet. A 3Com firewall goes beyond standard Web filtering to control access to chat, file transfer and Web proxy ports, ensuring that students use the Internet properly for academic purposes. Vineland is also using two recently introduced 3Com wireless LAN building-to-building bridges to provide leased preschool classrooms with affordable wireless Ethernet access to the district’s MAN.

“We shopped around for an across-the-board solution and found that 3Com’s value and simplicity clearly surpassed all competing solutions,” said Stephen Dantinne, supervisor of technology, Vineland Public Schools. “3Com systems give us the networking control and scalability we need, enabling us to rapidly and reliably deliver the educational resources our students and teachers need to excel in today’s academic environment.”

About 3Com Corporation

3Com simplifies how people connect to information and services through easy-to-use connectivity products and solutions for people and businesses. The company also provides access infrastructures and IP services platforms for network service providers. For further information, visit www.3com.com or the press site at www.3com.com/pressbox.

3Com and NBX 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.