In Green Networking Equipment: Who Leads and Who Lags, independent research firm In-Stat recently cited 3Com Corporation’s local area network (LAN) switches, which are “up to 60% more energy efficient, or green, than competitors’ products.” Thus, “deploying an industry-leading switching solution from 3Com, customers can save money – and help the environment by using significantly less electricity to power their high-performance networks.”

For In-Stat, “there are significant differences in the energy efficiency of similarly equipped switch equipment,” and that “as many businesses develop ‘green’ initiatives… information technology (IT) managers will be forced to absorb some degree of responsibility for their organization’s power usage.”

In a statement, 3Com claims that “the report confirms the success of 3Com’s program to reduce energy consumption, while increasing network functionality.” “Businesses worldwide are looking for effective ways to reduce energy use, both to save money and to conserve resources,” says Scott Hilton, 3Com vice president of enterprise products. “Through innovative design, 3Com’s newest products use up to 78% less power than previous switches. It’s gratifying that In-Stat recognizes 3Com’s industry leadership in this important area.”

Top Priority

Making networks more energy efficient is, obviously, fast becoming a top priority for chief information officers (CIOs), with 75% of the respondents in a survey done among IT executives by CIO Magazine citing either “reducing operating costs, or a commitment to social responsibility as the driver for making their IT operations greener.” In-Stat calculated the energy efficiency of 24-port and 48-port switches from leading vendors’ portfolios and 3Com products were the clear leaders in energy efficiency in both categories. A comparison of the fabric capacity (Gbps) per watt of 24-port Gigabit Ethernet fixed, managed Layer 2 and 3 switches found that 3Com far outpaced the rest of the industry by delivering approximately 3.25 Gbps per watt. No other vendor delivers as much as 2.0 Gbps per watt, according to In-Stat.

Among 48-port Gigabit Ethernet fixed, managed Layer 2 and 3 switches, 3Com again leads the field and is the only company able to deliver as much as 2.0 Gbps per watt. In both categories, prominent vendors such as Cisco, HP ProCurve, Nortel and Foundry were at or near the bottom of In-Stat’s rankings.

Leading Provider

3Com is a leading provider of secure, converged voice and data networking solutions for enterprises of all sizes. 3Com offers a broad line of innovative products backed by worldclass sales, service and support, which excel at delivering business value for its customers.

3Com also includes H3C Technologies Co. Limited (H3C), a Chinabased provider of network infrastructure products. H3C brings high-performance and cost-effective product development and a strong footprint in one of the world’s most dynamic markets. Through its TippingPoint division, 3Com is a leading provider of networkbased intrusion prevention systems that deliver in-depth application protection,
infrastructure protection, and performance protection.