HP Announces $2.7bn Acquisition of 3Com

17

Latest Videos FromTom's Hardware
TOPICS
Jane McEntegart
Contributor

Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.

  • hellwig
    3Com, I haven't heard much about that name since the days of 56k modems. I still have a 56k 3Com modem. Don't use it anymore obviously, but I still have it.

    I suppose 3Com has been much busier in the corporate sector than in the commercial sector. How many network companies does this leave? HP/3Com, Cisco/Linksys, Netgear, and D-Link? Getting pretty scarce out there.
    Reply
  • darkknight22
    all depends on the market you're in. Cisco def has the most wide reaching product offering but there are specialized competitors as well.

    i think this is great for HP as there commercial grade equipment is top notch. adding 3Com should only bring great things.
    Reply
  • Niva
    3com are the most rock solid nic cards, I have a PCI NIC from 3com which came in a PC I bought in 96 and I still use that sucka! Not the PC, the NIC card in another one I built in 2005 :)

    They did fade away into obscurity lately though, thought the company had already folded. Kinda sad to hear HP bought them but I guess it's the way of things these days... either die or get bought out.
    Reply
  • jerther
    Now who's gonna buy HP! I wonder how much it's worth
    Reply
  • martel80
    JertherNow who's gonna buy HP! I wonder how much it's worth
    Its current market capitalization is about $118 billion.
    http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=HPQ&d=t

    If you would like to buy it, you would need to fork out way more (many people/companies probably value it much more than the current market price).
    Reply
  • rooket
    I hope they don't churn out 3com chips under the Compaq plant. This sounds like bad news to me. I think HP has some neat laptops these days but it is kind of questionable. My coworker had to return his HP i7 destkop twice and get a refund. They have good printers though.

    I've been looking at those new i7 laptops HP have, I just would rather a cleaner look on the back without the big dorky HP logo on it.
    Reply
  • jerther
    @martel80
    Wow! That's a lot! thanks for the info!

    3com:
    "We're slightly richer!" --Mr. Burns
    Reply
  • michaelahess
    hellwig, there are many more, here's a few:

    Extreme, Juniper, Foundry, Allied Telesis, Corecess, Arris, and many more that I don't care to remember. This is peanuts compared to the big boys. That being Cisco, Extreme, Juniper, and Foundry.

    In fact, here's a list on wiki:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Networking_hardware_companies

    And it doesn't seem complete to me for some reason....
    Reply
  • Computer_Lots
    I suppose 3Com has been much busier in the corporate sector than in the commercial sector. How many network companies does this leave? HP/3Com, Cisco/Linksys, Netgear, and D-Link? Getting pretty scarce out there.

    Dude, you can't put Netgear and D-link in the same sentence with Cisco and 3Com. 3com is a serious network equipment provider who builds their own chips and designs their own stuff for. D-link and Netgear make cheapie gear for the average idiot.

    I am still confused as to what HP stands to gain from this purchase. HP already makes their own network gear and it's not bad. I guess swallowing up a competitor helps them in market share.
    Reply
  • Computer_Lots
    Oh, michaelahess... You forgot about Nortel. They also own Netgear.
    Reply