How 3Com, the Ethernet pioneer, faded away after betting on dial-up modems
What Happened to 3Com?
3Com, founded by Ethernet co-inventor Bob Metcalfe, once dominated network cards and was worth $5.8 billion at the dotcom peak. But it abandoned enterprise networking, overpaid for US Robotics' dial-up modems, and lost ground to cheaper Intel cards. After years without profit, HP bought 3Com for $2.7 billion in 2009, and the brand quietly disappeared.
It was like betting on AOL even though they were in the position to know the future belonged to AT&T.