Bay hits out at 3Com over its first card claim

Bay Networks has lashed out at 3Com for claiming that its recently announced fast Ethernet hub card is the first of its kind on the market.

Trevor Dearing, a product manager at Bay UK, said: ?It?s announced fast Ethernet products and a card in one of its hubs and claims that it?s the only card of its type that you can buy. We?ve had one for months and it?s half the price.?

The Superstack II Dual Speed Hub is a 12-port model intended to help 3Com gain a share of the lucrative fast Ethernet hub market, whose in-stalled base is estimated to rise this year to nearly four million ports, increasing again to 7.6 million by the end of the decade. The company claims a 40 per cent market share in Ethernet and fast Ethernet network interface cards.

But Dearing said: ?3Com uses the word ?unmanaged? in its announcement and that means it is not providing system management software. That positions it as a leader when it?s in catch-up mode in the hub market.?

Andy Berry, a product manager at 3Com, said that market research figures bore out the company?s claim to leadership in the market.