HP Acquire 3Com

We see that HP has acquired 3COM and we think their respective product ranges are very complimentary, however it is now interesting to note that part of the 3COM portfolio is their VoIP product line the 3Com NBX and VCX IP PBX and handset lines. 3Com currently has less than 0.5 percent share of the total $16 billion enterprise telephony market, according to Dell’Oro Group. But that is still more than the zero share HP has, which up to now addressed the market through partnerships with Avaya and Microsoft, among others.

The prospect of a VoIP product line branded as HP and with the backing of the HP marketing might should be a very interesting prospect and some of the current VoIP providers will be sitting up and taking notice.

View the Press Release  here

3Com to Sell an Asterisk Solution

We see that 3Com have recently announced they are going to resell a version of Asterisk from Digium.  Designed for five to 30 phone users, it delivers plug-and-play operation right out of the box backed by 3Com’s warranty, service and support. The 3Com Asterisk Appliance works with 3Com’s full line of telephone handsets.
This is a really interesting step with a major manufacturer such as them putting their might behind an Open Source product plus this will compete head on with their existing product range. However this could be the first step toward standards-based VoIP, the question is whether any of the competition will follow.

Have a look at the 3Com Press Release here here