WAN routing: 3Com makes a comeback

3Com has made a strong comeback in WAN routing with the launch of the 3Com Router 5000 family. The company says it is a new option for CIOs and network managers. Will it take Cisco head-on? Gaurav Patra finds out

There is demand for credible and viable alternatives for routing functionality and routing power at a realistic and affordable price, says Vijay Yadav

3Com has re-entered the WAN routing segment with much fanfare. It has expanded its enterprise communication solutions portfolio with WAN router solutions designed to solve issues that enterprise customers have with premium-priced, proprietary systems that are highly complex and costly to manage and support. As part of an aggressive, open-standards-based approach to meet infrastructure, applications and network management needs, 3Com is broadening its infrastructure solutions. The company has introduced the 3Com Router 5000 family, the starting point for a wider range of new router solutions that support enterprise voice and data applications. It will also add to its network management offerings with the new Network Administrator, which includes a router manager application and the capacity to enable larger enterprises to perform bulk administration for more efficient operations.

The company feels that it can create a huge opportunity for itself since the router market will never stop growing because of the increasing importance given to networking. “There is a yawning gap between customer expectations and what is available to them at a sensible price. We are going to address the gap with this new router,” says Vijay Yadav, country head, 3Com. “There is demand for credible and viable alternatives for routing functionality and routing power at a realistic and affordable price.” The company is therefore planning to offer its customers a router at a lower price point and lower total cost of ownership (TCO). “Most customers either have a dual vendor strategy or are seriously considering a one-vendor strategy for the router and WAN space. Our launch of this router at this stage fills the gap. Customers are now asking for the availability of a readymade plug, and we are stepping into it,” says Yadav.

Countering Yadav is S V Ramana, vice-president, systems engineering, Cisco Systems, India & SAARC. He says Cisco’s unique modular and scalable approach to WAN applications and services enables robust IP solutions such as security, voice and application acceleration, and business video to be added over time, thus reducing TCO and complexity. “Adding advanced IP solutions to the WAN infrastructure provides customers a compelling opportunity by enabling new productivity-enhancing applications such as e-communication, collaboration, e-learning and Web-enhanced PoS on a secured, highly available network,” says Ramana.

All along 3Com has been and has planned to be a Tier-1 supplier of innovative and easy-to-use networking products. Due to certain constraints, when there was a downturn in the market, the company took steps to realign its business and focus on basics. Now as the economy is looking up the company is again gearing itself to meet market demand. “We are at a stage where we see the firming up of the market. To continue to be the Tier-1 supplier of networking products will be our future strategy. Even though the launch of the router will be good for the market, it is actually one step in a series that we have taken to have a razor-sharp focus on the enterprise space,” says Yadav. The company has taken certain concrete steps in this direction; one of them is the broadening of its product portfolio. In July-August 2003 it launched the 7700 LAN Core Switch and simultaneously increased its product offering for 802.11g wireless. Now the company is introducing the Router 5000 family, which completes the cycle. It seems that 3Com will continue to make announcements and launch products to broaden its product portfolio for enterprise users. “We will add features and functionality, and also add product points as per the needs of the market to fulfill our main objective to remain a Tier-1 supplier of networking products. Broadening our portfolio of products is just one step in that direction,” explains Yadav.

Apart from this, the company has also started focusing on high growth countries (India being one of them) and high growth markets (Gigabit LAN Port switching, routing, VoIP, wireless and services). To gain the required (and sustainable) mindshare, the company is committed to offering better and richer services to customers. 3Com has established six spares-and-logistics centres in India to serve its customers efficiently. “Our main focus will be on the enterprise market. We have realised that we have to have a comprehensive product portfolio and that we should broaden our offering. This router launch is one sub-step of the first step, which is broadening our product offerings,” says Yadav.

3Com also looks very firm on creating a differentiator for itself in terms of lower total cost of ownership (TCO). “Users had to pay extra for each and every additional protocol and functionality. We will be providing full-feature functionality so that there will be no costly upgrades and this in turn will lower the TCO,” reveals Yadav. 3Com’s basic set of routers will have more resources than the basic set of routers that its competitors offer. Alternatively, if one looks at the full feature sets, then these would be the most price-competitive. “Either we will deliver more resources for a given amount of money, or for a given amount of resources we will be the lowest-priced, says Yadav.”

But Ramana says that unlike competitors who provide just point solutions, Cisco’s Full Service Branch access routing portfolio delivers a reliable, secure and integrated branch office solution for WAN access, IP telephony, application acceleration, business video services and low-density switching. “These solutions offer uncompromised business value through rich services and applications that can be incrementally increased while providing reliability and the best investment protection in the industry,” he insists. Ramana also says that Cisco is the only company that delivers a complete portfolio of routing products that span from service provider and enterprise edge to branch, teleworker and small office solutions.

It is also true that the earlier retreat from the WAN router product offerings has affected 3Com’s image to a large extent, but Yadav does not feel that way. He says that the response of customers is positive, and that it is translating into orders.

During the launch the company also tried to attack the competition by saying that they were selling proprietary solutions at a high price. “While we were away from the market, some companies tried to create monopolies and supplied proprietary solutions with high price upgradation. But with this launch we will try to do justice to end users,” declares Yadav.

On the selling route, Yadav discloses that the company would be selling through its partners. The products will also come with the usual discount, with loyal 3Com customers getting an extra bit under the loyalty programme.

With strategies that include product diversification and price differentiation, one should see an interesting battle between Cisco and 3Com in the days to come.

gaurav@expresscomputeronline.com

3Com Router 5000 family highlights
Feature	Benefit	3Com Router 5000 Family
WAN Routing	Comprehensive support for standards-based WAN and LAN interfaces and protocols ensures easy integration with the widest variety of public and private networks.	ISDN, Frame Relay, x.25, PPP, PPPoE, MP, SLIP, E1, HDLC/SDLC, leased line, sync/async, Ethernet. IP, IPX, OSPF, RIP v1 and v2, BGP-4, static routing.
Security	Protection of corporate data, assets and resources. Security from unauthorised access. Secure access for authorised entities.	VPN (L2TP, GRE, IPSec) Firewall, ACLs, NAT. RADIUS, PAP/CHAP.
Management	Ability to securely manage and control across the enterprise. Remote diagnostics and reporting.	3Com Network Supervisor, 3Com Router Manager, CLI. SNMP v1, 2 and 3, telnet, RMON. Info centre diagnostic tool.
Voice/Data Support	Effective management of voice and real-time traffic delivers top quality transmission. Assured availability of bandwidth for key applications.	QoS (CAR, LAR, GTS, FIFO, PQ, CQ, WEQ, RED, WRED, LLQ). Multicast routing protocols (PIM-Sim, PIM-DM). 802.1Q VLAN, Inter-VLAN routing.
Resilience	Minimise downtime. Redundant links, routers and extra bandwidth ensure resilience in the face of potential service disruptions.	Multi-links, compression. VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy). Back-up centre (configuration/port). Dial control centre, multi-links.