3Com Names Claflin's Successor

3Com named R. Scott Murray as its new president and CEO, taking over for Bruce Claflin, who is retiring.

On Friday, Marlborough, Mass.-based 3Com said that the change is effective immediately. Murray also assumes Claflin’s seat on 3Com’s board and will soon become chairman of 3Com’s joint venture with Chinese networking vendor Huawei Technologies, Huawei-3Com, according to a statement.

3Com two weeks ago announced Claflin’s retirement. He plans to act as a senior advisor to Murray and the board for six months.

“[Murray’s] ability to drive operations, grow revenue and increase profitability will be critical in accelerating the execution of 3Com’s strategy and creating shareholder value,” said 3Com Chairman Eric Benhamou in the statement.

Murray Friday was meeting with 3Com’s board and was not available for an interview, a spokesman said.John Lowery, CEO of Intelesys, a Madison Heights, Mich.-based 3Com partner, said the vendor is on the right path with its plans to develop and deliver an end-to-end product suite, a strategy Murray should continue.

“He has to make sure that they take the glimmer of hope we’ve seen so far and keep that moving forward,” Lowery said.

Murray most recently served as CEO of Modus Media International, a supply chain management and hosted services provider. He left Modus Media in 2004 when it was acquired by CMGI and renamed ModusLink.

Previously he served as president and COO of software services provider Stream International and as CFO for the Learning Company.