3Com: How It Began, Its Ideas, Products and the People Who Ran It
In 1973, at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, Robert Metcalfe co-invented Ethernet - the way most office computers are still wired together. Xerox would not sell it. In 1979 Metcalfe left and founded 3Com, with Howard Charney and others, to sell the idea himself.
This video follows 3Com from that departure to the present day: its first Ethernet adapter cards for the DEC VAX and the IBM PC (1981-84), the software and the 1987 Bridge Communications merger that brought in Eric Benhamou, Benhamou's decade turning the company into a maker of hubs, routers and switches for the corporate network boom, and the costly 1997 merger with US Robotics that brought modems and the Palm handheld computer business along with it.
It covers the unwind - Palm's 2000 stock-market debut and full spin-off, and US Robotics' own spin-off the same year - the leadership handover from Benhamou to Bruce Claflin, and the decision to bet the company's future on a Chinese joint venture with Huawei, H3C, built from 2003 and wholly owned by 2007.
It ends with Hewlett-Packard's 2009 agreement to buy what was left of 3Com for about $2.7 billion - mainly for H3C's China business - and follows that business afterward, through HP's 2015 sale of a majority stake to China's Unisplendour and HPE's own slower, two-stage exit, completed in May 2026.
Every figure carries its date and source, and two points where the brief's own figures did not match the primary sources have been corrected and explained in the fact sheet.
Educational documentary. Not financial or investment advice.
In these topics
Tags
Chapters
- A lab idea nobody wanted
- Founding 3Com, 1979
- From cards to a company, 1981-1984
- Building the networked office, 1980s
- Benhamou's decade and the hub-and-router era
- The US Robotics gamble, 1997
- Palm problems and the unwind, 1998-2000
- New leadership, hard years, 2000-2003
- Betting on China: the H3C joint venture, 2003-2007
- 3Com's final years as an independent company, 2007-2009
- The HP deal, 2009-2010
- After 3Com: H3C's life inside HP and beyond
Sources and credits
Photo credits (Wikimedia Commons)
- Robert Metcalfe, Ethernet co-inventor and 3Com founder: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARobert_Metcalfe_National_Medal_of_Technology.jpg
- Metcalfe's original memo establishing the basic principles of Ethernet: Robert Metcalfe, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMetcalfe_Memo_Establishing_Basic_Principles_of_Ethernet_%28Cover_%2B_1st_page%29.jpg
- Early Ethernet connector, signed by Bob Metcalfe: Daderot, CC0 - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AEarly_Ethernet_connector_-_signed_by_Bob_Metcalfe.jpg
- DEC VAX-11/780 computer, one of the machines 3Com's first Ethernet adapter cards connected: Emiliano Russo, Associazione Culturale VerdeBinario, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AVax_11-780_%282%29.jpg
- 3Com Ethernet/modem PCMCIA network card: Jim.henderson, CC0 - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A3Com_modem_-_Ethernet_PCMCIA_in_IBM_9547.jpg
- Palm V handheld, the PDA line 3Com inherited via US Robotics: Jorfer, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APalm_V.JPG
- Hewlett-Packard headquarters, Palo Alto: LPS.1, CC0 - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AHP_Headquarters_Palo_Alto.jpg
Primary sources
- IEEE Computer Society, 'Robert M. Metcalfe' biography, history.computer.org - Ethernet's invention at Xerox PARC and Metcalfe's 1979 departure.
- Dealroom.co, '3Com: from founding to acquisition and beyond' - the 1984 IPO, about $10 million raised.
- Palm Inc. Form 10-K (FY2000) and Form 8-K (2000), SEC EDGAR - the Palm IPO (2 March 2000) and full share distribution to 3Com shareholders (27 July 2000).
- Channel Futures, 'HP Sells 51 Percent Stake in H3C Chinese Networking Business to Tsinghua Holdings for $2.3 Billion' (2015)
- CRN Australia, 'HPE To Sell 30 Percent Stake In H3C For US$2.1B; Amends China Joint Venture Deal' (2024) - the restructured, two-tranche exit.
- FilingReader Intelligence, 'Unisplendour Increases H3C Stake to 88% as HPE Exits' and '...to 87.98% After Equity Buyouts' (both June 2026) - the completed 19% tranche, 28 May 2026.
- SiliconANGLE, 'HPE closes $14B Juniper acquisition following regulatory approval' (2 July 2025) - the 'why now' hook.
- Fast Company, 'When 3Com Met Huawei' - the H3C joint venture's formation (2003) and buyout (2007).
- Computerworld, 'HP agrees to buy 3Com for $2.7B' (2009).
Not regulated financial advice.