3Com

(3Com Corporation, Marlborough, MA, www.3com.com) Founded in 1979 by Ethernet pioneer Bob Metcalfe, 3Com is a leading communications hardware vendor, offering a wide variety of network adapters, hubs and related products. The company name was derived from Computer, Communication and Compatibility. In 1997, 3Com and U.S. Robotics agreed to merge. Retaining the 3Com name, it created a $5 billion dollar company with more than 12,000 employees and was the largest merger in the history of the data networking industry. In 2000, 3Com formed an alliance with Accton Technology and NatSteel Electronics and spun off U.S. Robotics once again to be an independent, privately held company.

3Com used to develop and support a line of network operating systems, which it discontinued in 1993. 3+Share was a DOS-based network operating system for PC and Mac clients. 3+Open was OS/2 based and supported DOS, OS/2 and Mac clients.