[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom]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.[/citation]
That would have been US Robotics, acquired by 3Com.
[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom]How many network companies does this leave? HP/3Com, Cisco/Linksys, Netgear, and D-Link? Getting pretty scarce out there.[/citation]
Just if you use el-cheapo equipment (Cisco excluded)...
[citation][nom]Computer_Lots[/nom]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.[/citation]
3com (one of the founders was the inventor of ethernet at Xerox PARC) did make their own HW and chips way ago, but used, e.g. relabeled Extreme Networks, for the higher-end stuff event back in the 90ies. Newer products are using just the ubiquitous broadcom/marvell/other chipsets. They may have been using lately even cheaper taiwanese - like realtek/icplus/davicom/tamarack/holtek/winbond/via/sis/whatever (Allied Telesyn/Telesis and SMC did) - hopefully not the cheapest chinese junk...
[citation][nom]Computer_Lots[/nom]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.[/citation]
HP has a looong history of relabeling.
[citation][nom]bfstev[/nom]Maybe HP routers and switches can stop being so shitty now.[/citation]
Or even more shitty, sold under the 3Com label... (see Cisco/Linksys, Nortel/Netgear)