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A&R Partners
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3Com Reduces the Price of Award Winning
PalmPilot™ Connected Organizers

3Com offers market-leading PalmPilot Professional Edition for $369, PalmPilot Personal Edition for $249

SANTA CLARA, Calif., October 10, 1997 -- 3Com Corporation (Nasdaq: COMS) today reduced the suggested retail price of its best-selling PalmPilot connected organizer products. The PalmPilot Professional Edition will have an estimated street price of $369, reduced from $399, and the PalmPilot Personal Edition will have an estimated street price of $249, reduced from $299. Since their introduction in March of this year, the PalmPilot products have received numerous awards and industry acclaim for their form-factor, extensive functionality, price, and viability for enterprise data management solutions.

"The PalmPilot product has been one of our most successful products this year, and has led our handheld computing sales since its introduction," said Mark Steinberg, divisional merchandising manager for CompUSA. "This price reduction is a great way to provide even more value to the customers. We expect to see a continued strong interest in PalmPilot products throughout the coming years."

The two models maintain 3Com's design objective of providing maximum functionality at compelling consumer price points. The PalmPilot Professional Edition connected organizer includes e-mail connectivity software, expense tracking software, a backlit screen, enhanced PalmPilot personal information management software and 1MB of memory. The PalmPilot Personal Edition connected organizer features the same expense management software, backlit screen, and enhanced PIM software, and includes 512K of memory. With over 3,000 developers currently creating software applications to run on the PalmPilot connected organizer, hundreds of software applications, developer tools and services are already available. This broad developer support of the PalmPilot platform further fuels its emergence as the leading platform in the handheld computing industry.

"We designed the PalmPilot connected organizer to help both general consumers and mobile business professionals stay organized and productive in daily life. In addition to being the best-selling connected organizer for individual users, it has become a compelling enterprise tool providing an expansive platform for mission-critical corporate data solutions," explained Ed Colligan, vice president of marketing for the Palm Computing, Inc. subsidiary of 3Com Corporation. "Our retailers and reseller partners have had great success with PalmPilot products this year, and this price reduction should make the product even more attractive to the consumer and enterprise customer."

The award-winning PalmPilot connected organizers, designed as companion products to personal computers, enable mobile users to manage their schedules, contacts, and other critical personal and business information on their desktops and remotely. The PalmPilot device automatically synchronizes its information with a personal computer locally or over a local- or wide-area network using Network HotSync™ software, at the touch of a button. Its most distinguishing features include shirt-pocket size, instant response, an elegant graphical user interface, and an innovative desktop cradle that facilitates two-way PC synchronization.

PalmPilot products are distributed through leading consumer electronics and computer stores nationwide, including Circuit City, CompUSA, Computer City, Egghead, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, and other retailers. The products are also available through national corporate resellers, including Vanstar and Entex. In addition, IBM recently launched the IBM WorkPad, a new PC companion, using the PalmPilot technology and Franklin Quest offers the Franklin Electronic DayPlanner, which incorporates the PalmPilot platform with Ascend '97 software, and is available at Franklin Quest retail outlets and directly from Franklin Quest.

About 3Com
3Com Corporation enables individuals and organizations worldwide to communicate and share information and resources at anytime from anywhere. As one of the world's preeminent suppliers of data, voice and video communications technology, 3Com has delivered networking solutions to more than 100 million customers worldwide. With global reach and local touch, the company gives enterprises, network service providers and carriers, small businesses and consumers comprehensive, innovative information access products and system solutions for building intelligent, reliable and high performance local and wide area networks. 3Com has worldwide revenues of more than $6.0 billion and employs approximately 13,200 people in 45 countries. For further information, visit 3Com's World Wide Web site at http://www.3com.com or the PalmPilot product site at http://www.palmpilot.com.

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3Com and the 3Com logo are registered trademarks, and PalmPilot, Palm OS, HotSync and the PalmPilot logo are trademarks of 3Com Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other brands and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.