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HP Will Buy 3Com for $2.7B and Challenge Cisco By Richard Koman November 12, 2009 2:05PM Hewlett-Packard will acquire 3Com for $2.7 billion and take on Cisco Systems in the networking market, a battle that has been building since 2005. HP's Dave Donatelli said the 3Com acquisition will provide HP customers with support "from the edge of the network to the heart of the data center." One focus for HP and Cisco will be China.   Related Topics Hewlett-Packard 3Com Cisco Data Center Latest News Endeavour Inspected for Damage Autism Risk for Kids of Older Mothers Go Online and You Can Save the Planet In Haiti, Relief Gaps Are Spreading U.S. To Form Climate-Change Agency Hewlett-Packard rocked the networking world Wednesday with the announcement that it plans to buy 3Com for $2.7 billion. The acquisition is expected to make HP the number-two networking vendor behind Cisco Systems and set the two companies up for a battle of titans. "Companies are looking for ways to break free from the business limitations imposed by a networking paradigm that has been dominated by a single vendor," said Dave Donatelli, executive vice president and general manager for HP's enterprise servers and networking group. The move is the latest skirmish between HP and Cisco. In 2005, Cisco started building servers and HP responded by putting funding and new management behind its ProCurve networking gear. With the 3Com acquisition, it's game on. Data-Center Showdown "Businesses are expected to spend $100 billion on data -center software and hardware this year, research company IDC forecasts," explained The Wall Street Journal's Stephen Grocer. "And tech companies don't want to share those data-center dollars any more. They want to be the one-stop shop for customers." "By acquiring 3Com, we are accelerating the execution of our Converged Infrastructure strategy and bringing disruptive change to the networking industry," Donatelli said. "By combining HP ProCurve offerings with 3Com's extensive set of solutions, we will enable customers to build a next-generation network infrastructure that supports customer needs from the edge of the network to the heart of the data center." 3Com CEO Bob Mao said the combined company will have strong synergies. "Our extensive product line and innovative technology, together with HP's breadth and scale, will expand our global opportunity," Mao said. He boasted that 3Com's products deliver "better performance, require less power , and eliminate administrative complexity." 3Com's major market segments are banks, ISPs, utilities and retailers. With 3Com under its belt, HP will compete vigorously in China, the company said. Focus on China The deal is bad news for Brocade, which had hoped to cut a partnership deal with HP. Brocade is for sale. The 3Com acquisition "fills most of the holes in HP's networking portfolio" and "likely takes any potential partnership (with Brocade) off the table," analysts with Lazard Ltd. said. (continued...) 1  |  2  |  Next Page >   Tell Us What You Think Your Comment: Also Visit: iPad Info Center Billions of Bytes Mobile Device Now Apple Info Center TopTechWire.com Advertisement  Enterprise I.T. 1.   Google May Make Gmail More Social 2.   IBM Power7 Server Takes on Big Load 3.   IBM Opens Cloud-Focused Data Center 4.   Google Apps Controls Mobile Devices 5.   Newly Independent AOL Posts Profit Google Attack Highlights Black Market Paying for bug info is hotly debated. Average Rating: Zuckerberg's Comments Blasted Called self-serving and irrelevant. Average Rating: Google May Make Gmail More Social Not a Facebook or Twitter killer. Average Rating:

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