3Com Pushes Switches for Small Offices

By Meg Walker, CRN
November 14, 2001 11:47 AM ET

3Com confirmed it is the networking vendor for small businesses by unveiling several switches for offices with 20 employees or less.

New products in one family--the OfficeConnect switches--are the size of a small modem--about 5 inches deep, 1 inch high and 9 inches wide--and can be placed on top of a desk or cabinet.

The new products fall under Santa Clara, Calif.-based 3Com's approach of "radically simple,' a branding campaign touting the company's technology as simple, effective and affordable.

"We design them [the switches] to simplify the technology so our customers can get the benefit of networks,' says Kathy Rocha, vice president and general manager of 3Com's small business division. "We count on value-added resellers to play a key role in helping the small businesses to build an effective network. Small businesses rely on VARs to help them understand what they need and to get it installed properly.'

The new switches--available immediately--include:

The OfficeConnect Switch 5 and OfficeConnect Switch 8 provide 5 or 8 ports for Fast Ethernet copper cable switching. An unlimited number of the boxes can be used by stacking them or clipping them together. The switches are designed to be part of a local area network for a small office. The switch with 5 ports sells for $77 and the switch with 8 ports sells for $110.

The OfficeConnect Dual Speed Switch 16 is a 16- port Fast Ethernet switch that has a feature that can prioritize voice traffic. The switch is equipped with a technology that detects the polarity of a cable, a feature that makes installation simpler. It sells for $250.

The SuperStack 3 Baseline Fast Ethernet switch with 12 or 24 ports is designed for offices with growing numbers of network users. It is sized to fit in a 19-inch rack in a wiring closet. It has technology that detects the polarity of a cable. An LED on the switch lights up once the switch is installed to show that voice and data traffic is running smoothly. The 12-port switch sells for $545 and the 24-port switch sells for $775.

Michael LeBlanc, president of LeBlanc Communications Group, a solution provider that partners with 3Com, says inexpensive switches for the small office do hold opportunities for VARs.

Profits in the deal don't come from the margin on the product, but from services used to design a network for a customer, LeBlanc says.

"It gets me in the door to do bigger things,' he says.

And the new switches will allow him to install more powerful devices that are still affordable for small customers. For instance, the OfficeConnect Dual Speed switch can prioritize voice and data traffic, a function not usually included in switches for the small office market.

The new switches may seem to cement 3Com as a dominant player in the small office market. But LeBlanc says while 3Com's products suit that market, the vendor has not totally abandoned the enterprise market. This fall, the vendor introduced two new layer 3-Gigabit Ethernet switches, the Superstack 3 switch 4924 and the Superstack 3 switch 4950.

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