![[Benhamou pic]](/gif/1229benhamou.gif)
Talk about chutzpah. Eric Benhamou wasn't about to let Cisco run away with
the networking business, and his determination to keep up with his Bay area
rival, Cisco CEO John Chambers, was so great that he pulled off a
cross-country merger this year with modem and remote access giant US
Robotics.
To be sure, Benhamou is no stranger to mergers and acquisitions. He's engineered a dozen deals that have helped jack up 3Com's annual revenue to nearly $6 billion. Where once there was a Big Four in data networking, there's now a Big Two - with Cisco and 3Com looking down on Bay Networks, Inc. and Cabletron Systems, Inc.
But 3Com has more to worry about than Cisco. The company faces tough competition in the enterprise and carrier/Internet service provider network markets from such bruisers as Lucent Technologies, Inc., Northern Telecom, Inc. and Ascend Communications, Inc.
Benhamou also has to pull off the integration of 3Com and US Robotics, and that will take time and plenty of energy. 3Com is positioned in every segment of the high-tech marketplace, from the consumer realm with modems and PalmPilots, all the way up the food chain to the service provider market. Benhamou is trying to strengthen 3Com's position there with his backing of high-profile, high-speed routing start-up Juniper Networks, Inc. 3Com is partnering with Siemens AG on integrating voice and data technologies.
That pair also joined forces with Newbridge Networks, Inc. back in October at NetWorld+ Interop '97 in Atlanta to develop advanced IP networking capabilities - so-called Carrier-Scale Internetworking.
