3Com Reaches High, Low With New Routers

On Monday, 3Com is expanding its lineup of enterprise routers with eight new models that fill out both the high and low ends of its portfolio. 3Com is introducing the Router 6000 family, which offers higher density, capacity and resiliency than 3Com's current Router 5000 and Router 3000 lines.

"Customers have been asking for more resilience," said Howard Rubin, router product marketing manager at 3Com, Marlborough, Mass.

Available in a four-slot and an eight-slot model, 3Com's Router 6000 family offers two 10/100 Ethernet ports, 300-Kbps throughput, 512 Mbytes of memory and hot-swappable power supplies. 3Com's routers also come standard with security features such as VPN, encryption and firewall.

The line supports up to 64 WAN connections at T3 speeds or greater and is aimed at deployments with more than 250 users.

"The products look like they'll have a feature set that will satisfy 90 [percent] to 95 percent of customer requirements, and at a significant cost savings [vs. competitors]," said Steve Marks, president of Starnet Data Design, a solution provider in Westlake Village, Calif.3Com is also expanding its Router 3000 family, adding six new enterprise broadband routers. The DSL routers include a four-port 10/100 switch and enhanced security features.

All of 3Com's routers ship with maximum operating memory and a full software build so users don't have to upgrade later, Rubin said.

The new routers come out of 3Com's year-old joint venture with Chinese networking vendor Huawei Technologies.

Available now, 3Com's Router 6000 family starts at $5,990, while its Router 3000 DSL line starts at $595.