SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- 3Com Corporation (Nasdaq: COMS) today announced a new Power over Ethernet (PoE)-enabled switch, new NBX® IP telephones and wireless LAN access points. Combined with 3Com's innovative Network Jack family, these solutions offer the industry's most comprehensive suite of Power over Ethernet networking equipment based on the IEEE P802.af draft specification. Now a single cable can provide both standards-based, intelligent power and data connectivity. Any combination of these products can be ubiquitously deployed throughout a network, providing network managers with intelligent detection of powered devices, centralized management and enhanced availability. Combining these capabilities with standards-based power assures customers that 3Com® products can be seamlessly deployed with any other IEEE P802.af compliant products, providing the lowest total cost of ownership. At the heart of this power-enabled approach to building networks is the new SuperStack® 3 Switch 4400 PWR, which offers customers the combination of a cost-effective "power source," based on the IEEE P802.af draft specification, with 3Com's most feature-rich 10/100 switch. The SuperStack 3 Switch 4400 PWR is a 24-port 10/100 in-line Power over Ethernet switch, delivering high-performance Ethernet switching with a variety of Gigabit uplink options, resilient, hot-swappable stacking and stack-wide link aggregation to enhance backbone performance and ensure network resiliency. The product can connect into an XRN™ technology-based backbone, which provides high availability for optimal network uptime. Customers will be able to take advantage of the SuperStack 3 Switch 4400 PWR for these classes of devices:

"3Com has taken a corporate-wide, integrated approach to Power over Ethernet so that customers receive plug-and-play compatibility while at the same time significantly lowering the total cost of ownership (TCO) of their networks," said Dave Zwicker, vice president of marketing, 3Com. "Customer concerns about extra cabling, multiple back-up systems, space limitations, high cost, and proprietary products are eliminated when a standards-based PoE solution is implemented in a business, a school or a governmental organization. 3Com has eliminated another potential barrier to installing IP telephones and wireless LAN access points." 3Com Corp.