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3Com Spinning Off US Robotics
DaveHowe writes, "According to the 3com press release they are spinning off their US Robotics modem line into a new company, shared jointly between them, Accton and NatSteel Electronics. It is also farming off its LAN router customers to Extreme Networks but will be keeping support for them as part of a "strategic alliance". " Hmmm...perhaps they had such a nice team with the PalmPilot IPO that they figure, hey why not do it with everything?
SANTA CLARA, Calif., - April 1, 2000 - Following the initial public offering of Palm, Inc., and the announcement last month that it would spin off US Robotics, 3Com Corporation today announced it's latest strategy to raise capital for future growth. Pending SEC approval, expected in early May, 3Com will be spinning off 3Com. A company spokesman pointed out that the Palm division quickly eclipsed it's parent when it was spun off earlier this year. Based on that experience, both 3Com's management team and several Wall Street analysts have concluded that spinning off something as large as the entire parent company should result in even greater share prices for the new offering. The spokesman also mentioned that 3Com has not yet determined what will become of the parent company, but explained that it will consist of the corporate name itself and a file drawer in the office of the legal department of the new spin off.
*LMFAO* You're thinking of 3M makers of PostIts, Scotch Tape and all kinds of nifty paper products...not 3Com the makers of some of the best NIC cards ever made *LMFAO*
/sure/ that was a joke....it was a joke...right?
I'm
twas a good joke my friend, thanks for the smile :)
Folks,
I think what is happening is that 3Com is reorganizing themselves to be ready when broadband Internet access becomes very common.
In fact, leveraging the well-known US Robotics brand, don't be surprised that a few years from now when you sign up for cable or ADSL broadband access, the ISP will provide you with a US Robotics-branded modem, either an external model that connects through an 10/100BaseT Ethernet NIC or USB port or an internal model that you install on the PCI port.
Raymond in Mountain View, CA
I protest, I've never used a 3com nic that i didn't hate.
They're overpriced and generally underpowered. In my own tests (ttcp, closed, switched network) their flagship 905tx was consistently slower than everything else, even realtek.
They do have a good warranty, but you're gonna need it. I've had many, many fail on me.
Personally my advice is this: If you want top performance in microsoft OSs, go for Intel 82559 based nics, for about half the price of 3Com. If you want top performance in Linux or BSD, go for a DEC Tulip or tulip-clone based nic like the Netgear FA-310TX for a quarter the price of 3Com. Genuine DEC 21140 Tulip cards are getting rare, most these days use a clone chip, you may have the best results with 2.2.14.
If you want cheap, various surplus vendors are carrying DEC 21140 Tulip based nics for about $12 each. You won't be disappointed. The ones I've seen are Samsung branded. Settling for less (Maxonix, Realtek) you will probably be disappointed. The Netgear nic can be had for $15.
So why blow $45 on a 3Com when it sucks? Screw the warranty, buy a spare for every machine for half the total cost.
This is just like television, only you can see much further.
Uhmm, this makes no sense, really, as 3Com just mjerged with USR a few years back. But, on closer inspection, it does make some sense, as a lot of high tech companies are seperating their R&D departments from their sales and marketing departments. AT&T did that with Lucent, and HP with Agilent. I guess that 3com is implying that USR will be its "R&D" arm, while 3com will be its sales/marketing arm. In that case, the Palm spinoff/IPO makes sense, too.
-mark
-mark
If your computer says LINUX, run...computers can't talk! [unless you have text-speech software]
wtf? So the new business model to absorb a terrific and popular company, destroy their culture, discombobulate their website into a festering heap of painful confusion, commoditize them, completely flattening the market, and then IPO it for some giggles?
Palm Pilot was an awesome company, 3com just commoditized them and mediocered their innovation into the ground. Has anything really changed between the original Palm Pilot and the IIIc - ooh! it's in color! Look ma, same crappy basic apps, but in color!
I love my Palm Vx, but the innovation that is found in the Handspring (created by the original inventors of the palm pilot) is really indicitive of a stifling culture at 3com.
I wish US Robotics well, I'm sorry they had to suffer through 3com. Hopefully now they can return to innovating some kick ass products that geeks well lust after like the first time I saw a Courier 1200.
chris
-- I need more coffee. It's Monday. There is no such thing as enough coffee on a Monday.
This is very good for 3Com. They need to get back to their core business -- making PostIt Notes.
Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.
Buy'em up
Float'em for a while
When yer done
Spin them off
Watch them fall on the ground
YEEE HAW
When they're down
Pick'em up one more time
And do it all over again!!
---
Well, to be fair to them
- There IS a PDF version on the line below (spvc336.pdf),
- It is a copy of the original manual (that came in the box) - a 3mb download isn't too unreasonable if you had a copy and then lost it and
- it is so large because it is in Word 6 format - so can be read for "free" on a Win9x box - you don't need to buy MS Office97
Many manufacturers (my current employer too, I am sad to say) either don't supply replacement manuals, or charge for them.however, from the other point of view -
--
-=DaveHowe=-
You can usually get much better results if you go directly to the FTP site - try the following:
- Here for 3Com Cable Modem Files
- Here for 3Com Courier ISDN Files
- Here for 3Com Courier Modems
- Here for 3Com OfficeConnect 56K Business Modem
- Here for 3Com Sportster ISDN Files
- Here for 3Com U. S. Robotics ISDN TA
- Here for 3Com US Robotics Modem (Sportster
- Here for 3Com USB Network Interface
- Here for 3Com Voice Modem Support Files
- Here for 3Com WinModem Support Files
- Here for Big Picture Video Support Files
- Here for FAQs and Software Setup Docs
- Here for Macintosh Communications
- Here for US Robotics Worldport Modems
In each case there is a file "index" that lists the contents of the directory in ascii. 3Com have actually made a decent effort here to support those that don't need the handholding of a pretty Shockwave website........--
-=DaveHowe=-
Palm Computing is bought by U.S. Robotics
U.S. Robotics is bought by 3Com
Palm Computing is sold by 3Com
U.S. Robotics is sold by 3Com
What's next?
Palm Computing is bought by U.S. Robotics?
I haven't seen an update to their download section in months, so if one loses the "connections" cd, they are in for a hell of a time.
USR Courier Modems: excellent, but an acquisition
Palm Pilot: now spun off, and acquisition to boot
hubs: strictly me-too
switches: low end, me-too
routers: let's just say Cisco doesn't lose sleep
NOS: um, anyone even remember 3Com+share/open?
NICs: OK, these are pretty good. Basically, from its inception, 3Com has ridded the Etehrnet wave for all it is worth. Now that Etehrnet is now largely a commodity market, they are in trouble. Their last few acquisitions failed to revitilize the company and basically have to be spun back off to avoid destroying their value (unless you really believe that USR has fared well under 3Com's ownership, and that Palm is worse off on their own).
Look for good things from the new USR, but forget 3Com, they haven't shown any real direction of innovation for years.
Easy. Unlike the lucky folks who live in larger populous centers, those of us in the north woods have no other options for internet connectivity from home, and we won't have them for a while yet. Heck, I can't even get a cable modem because the local cable company doesn't support them....and a lot of the folks up in The County don't even have cable to begin with, because their neighborhoods haven't been wired for it yet (population isn't dense enough to make it profitable). Dish Network et al. are big sellers up this way.
The modem market isn't going to dry up entirely until these more remote regions get more thoroughly wired. Will it decline? Of course... but there will be a niche for good old fashioned modems for several years to come.
-- WhiskeyJack, from the deepest, darkest wilds of Maine. ;)
Someone has already pointed out that there are areas in the U.S. where there's nothing to choose but modem connection. But if you broaden your scope you will notice that many countries in the world still buy U.S.-made hardware. The internet is growing fast, and faster outside highly developed areas, where modems will be the only access route for many years to come.
This is already happening (I mean the repressed demand). When I run my BBS in '94, when I wanted to add a line I had a dozen places I could go to and buy a USR Sportster 14.400. Installing them was a breeze. Today I cannot find a Sportster to replace the crappy WinModem that came with what is now my Linux box (I live in a small town without ISDN, in Brazil). I had to "steal" the USR 28.8k card from the box my children use. And many others don't "turn" to Linux because of this.
I read elsewhere that this is part of a broader strategy by 3Com to manage themselves for future changes in the hi-tech industry. Basically, USR and Palm function better as independent companies. The modem/low-end connection market has become pretty much saturated and the growth that allowed USR to become such a well-known and successful company has subsided, leaving 3Com with what amounts to a stable and non-developing subsidiary. This is bad for a company in the hi-tech arena because the market changes so fast that if you aren't growing, you're dying. The Palm spin-off was a different story, as 3Com wasn't getting anything from Palm that they needed for their projected focus, mainly ISP services, equipment, etc.
One can poke fun at the business model (buy a company, then spin it off), but it was just bad timing by 3Com. They picked up USR when it was at the top of the peak and now they're letting it go. It's good they recognize the harm in keeping it, because that will maybe allow them to survive. Same goes with Palm, because managing Palm took resources away from other areas they need to concentrate on. I wouldn't be surprised if they created another company or completely separate subdivision to manage their home product line either (cards, small hubs, etc.) as that market's growth is slowing down, too (supposedly, I'm no expert; just reporting what I remember reading).
With the way that Internet business world is shaping up, though, who can tell what will happen?
can't wait for aoltimewarner.com
;)
You know, i couldn't resist, sure 'nuf, it's a site...aoltimewarner.com Coming soon... The World's First Media and Communications Company for the Internet Age
Gotta love it
As a (soon-to-be-former) 3Com employee and part-time Linux geek, I think that 3Com going open-source is pretty damn unlikely. Alliance with Microsoft is much more in line with the current company bulletins here.
The idea of 3Com having monopoly power is, frankly, laughable. If there is a monopoly in the world of netwrecking, it is held by Cisco and their high-end routers (although I'm not trying to sling mud here; merely stating the obvious).
The atmosphere here today in the UK is *weird*, though; there's metaphorical blood all over the walls, as they appear to be trying to get rid of the entire customer support department - their strategy appears to be to make everything so point-and-drool that even a moron can operate it and use this as an excuse not to have anything more than a vestigial customer support service.
Compaq decides to spin of it's Unix/Alpha development: Going to call the new company "Digital Equipment Corporation".
What we really have to watch out for is when Microsoft decides to spin off all the companies *they've* acquired--with all those companies spinning merrily away someone could lose an eye.
--
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
I wouldn't count them out, though. CEO Eric Benhamou is a very smart guy and if 3Com is shedding some extra weight, they must also have something good planned ahead. Too bad for 3Com that they bought U.S. Robotics right as the market for analog modems peaked out at 56K. Palm was really the only feather in their cap, and they did the honorable thing to let it go before their own decline affected it.
As a side note, a Dell computer I just bought has its official "3Com 56K" modem listed as a U.S. Robotics modem. Go figure.
--
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
So 3com which Purchases USR in 1997 is now (three years later) going to spin off USR into another company, it would seem to me this is display of the business cycle of life, or a good company (USR) that was bought by a biggeer company (3com) and was sucked into a business void in which business suffered so now they are going to break it out to increase profitability, It makes you wonder if companies are succeeding to fail. can't wait for aoltimewarner.com
Let me see if I can clarify a few misconceptions here...
:)
:)
Extreme is getting 3Com's CoreBuilder line...this is very high end routers and switches.
Motorola is get most of the PathBuilder and most of the NetBuilder lines (3Com will retain a few of the products in each of these lines). NetBuilders are the more traditional routers, PathBuilders are workgroup and specialty switches.
NatSteel and Accton (sp?) get the modems, NetSteel also gets the manufacturing facility in the Chicago suburbs (nice facility...toured it in October) and will manufacture 3Com equipment under contract there. This facility manufactures all of the Total Control line of equipment I believe, as well as cable modems, and DSL modems (3Com only does CPE DSL modems at this point). I believe they also do whatever the Sportster line is called now at that facility, and probably a couple of other things I'm forgetting.
The modems will be spun off into their own company called "USRobotics" (what goes around comes around) in conjunction with NatSteel and Accton. Its important to note that the purchase of USRobotics approximately 3 years ago included Palm, and the Total Control line...Palm, of course, is already spun off, and Total Control is being retained by 3Com, so this really isn't the same USRobotics from days or yore. Personally, I tend to think its better...more focused...USRobotics had trouble executing on the Total Control back then (we used the line back then even), focusing on only consumer analog modems may allow them to return to the quality of USRobotics modems that many of us remember from years gone by. I hope.
So...now the question that a lot of people ask when they hear all this..."What does that leave?"
Well...as I mentioned...Total Control, which is really a whole line of products and is aimed at Carriers and ISPs, is still gonna be there. I suspect the part of the PathBuilder line that they are keeping as well is being held on to in order to complement the Total Control.
This also leaves home networking and small business networking (nics, ISDN routers, small hubs, etc.), I also suspect the part of the NetBuilder line that they are retaining will be there to complement this part of the business...the low end of the NetBuilders.
The last part that is still there is the VOIP product lines and related products. The NBX 100 and 3Com's ethernet phones are supposed to be pretty nifty...though I haven't had a chance to try any out yet. A couple of the acquisitions that were announced were to beef up this area...unified messaging, etc.
As a 3Com customer...particularly of the Total Control line...I see all of this as a very good thing. I do find it interesting though. When I think of what 3Com is...I think of NetBuilder and CoreBuilder...its almost like 3Com is selling off their identity and becoming a totally new company in the process. The new logo almost confirms this idea (note I'm *definitely* in the realm of my own personal opinion here, take it for what you will).
I've always thought the Total Control line was the "ugly step-child" of 3Com...and now they seem like they want to make that the core of their business...I say more power to them!
Any way you look at it, there are interesting days ahead.
Jeff
Same with Zoom, etc? Modems are going to be going away pretty fast over the next few years, and I would think that perhaps 3Com pretty much milked USR for everything they could. Sure, they are still making money for them, but how can a modem compete with DSL or Cable, or whatever new broadband service that is going to be showing up soon. It can't.
It sounds to me like 3Com sees this (if they can't then they are pretty bloody stupid) and is now letting them float out there for someone to buy in the next few years.