Confident 3Com takes initiative

Johannesburg, 28 Apr 2009

3Com, a converged services and network solutions provider, says it's well positioned in tough economic times as businesses rethink their IT budgets and strive to be more competitive.

Derek Wiggill, 3Com Africa's regional sales director, says: “South African enterprises have been proactive in response to the global economic crunch and are being cautious about expenditure to fund expansion strategies. But they're using this time of appraisal to focus closely on the essentials needed to maximise opportunities when the tide turns.”

Wiggill points out that SA faces the same business challenges as the rest of the world and the 'flight to value' that 3Com has witnessed elsewhere is being mirrored here. “We are seeing large organisations putting in place the infrastructure that will better be able to support their dynamic demands when the time is right.”

According to 3Com, companies are looking to cut energy consumption in their data centres and networks. The IEEE P802.3az energy-efficient Ethernet project is working on an approach called 'low-power idle' which enables the network to consume the minimum amount of power during the idle time between packets.

The company is also bullish in the virtualisation space with its eXpandable Resilient Networking, which it claims can virtualise multiple edge switches into a logical virtual switch while virtual core technology can combine multiple core switches into a virtual mega-switch.

3Com predicts that as more companies feel the economic pinch, they will turn to a services platform to roll out network services when needed rather than plugging another physical server or appliance into the network.

Wiggill believes the business outlook for 3Com this year is promising. In Africa, expansion into countries north of SA and in the Indian Ocean are proceeding on schedule. Staff headcount has increased by 33% and is growing, and Wiggill expects growth in the region to be between 50% and 70% this year.

This month, 3Com released its third quarter results for its fiscal 2009. Revenue reached $324.7 million (R2.87 billion) compared to revenue of $336.4 million (2.97 billion) in the corresponding period in fiscal 2008, a 3.5% decrease.