3Com's China link

摘要

3Com stopped selling high-end routers and switches for corporations about six years ago to concentrate on service provider and small business gear. But in 2003, the company reentered the market by forming a joint venture with China's Huawei Technologies. Huawei-3Com develops and builds products and sells them in China and Japan. In 48 other countries, 3Com sells the joint venture's products under its own name. 3Com gets all its high-end enterprise routers and about 65% of its high-end enterprise switches from the joint venture, says Anik Bose of 3Com. The deal gave 3Com a way to gain ground in China while also getting a source for competitively priced enterprise gear. It looked good for Huawei, too: The company had a small but fast-growing enterprise network business in China, which it wanted to globalize. The joint venture let Huawei do that without hiring thousands of sales representatives and building a worldwide brand, Bose says.