3Com or H3C: What’s in a name?

Chai arrived in Sydney yesterday following a brief stay in Brisbane, where 3Com is working with the Queensland Department of Education to provide the infrastructure, service and network management for over 400 sites. This is one of many large-scale local initiatives forming part of 3Com's greater push into the A/NZ market.

Recent speculation indicated that 3Com might undertake a rebranding exercise to exploit the strength of recently acquired IP-based solutions provider H3C. Chai denied the claim, stating 3Com is simply redirecting its marketing focus to better reflect the vendor's strength in networking.

“We are repositioning the brand as opposed to rebranding. We have not been active in communicating the brand and so we’re repositioning it to reflect what we’re good at ... networking,” said Chai.

Despite implications the H3C brand and associated technology holds considerable weight, particularly in Asia, Chai asserted the vendor has no intention of abandoning the 3Com name. H3C will only be associated with a select number of products that are synonymous with the brand.

“We want the channel to know 3Com not just what we represent,” said Chai. “We will selectively use H3C where appropriate, for example when marketing metro Internet.”

According to Chai, there is significant potential in the SMB space that 3Com is exploring and seeking to capitalise on.

“We’re focusing on target accounts in SMB markets and that’s the next wave of 3Com’s marketing efforts,” said Tony Yuen, channel marketing manager, 3Com. “SMB is very channel driven and marketing driven, so we’re targeting solutions development and seeing that filter through the channel.”

Yuen explained that 3Com’s channel efforts will also be directed to fostering the development of existing relationships and recruiting new partners. He added that the vendor is continually rolling out improvements to its channel program.

“We have over 2000 channel partners and our next move is to increase our direct communication with the channel, profile partners and tailor specific solutions,” said Yuen.

“We are also looking at setting up a partitioned specialised training facility in Sydney to provide product and sales training,” added Chai.

Looking ahead, Chai claimed the future success of 3Com lies in specialisation, which has led the vendor to focus on specific verticals. This move will differentiae 3Com from Cisco and accelerate growth in specialised markets, he said.

“We are not concerned about Cisco, we compete in a very targeted space, in a very selected vertical,” said Chai. “Rather than spread ourselves too thin, we’re pursuing our own focus strategy.”

Yuen added, “Locally, 3Com is investing in specific product propositions.”

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