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Bookshop Genres 3Com: The unsung saga of the Silicon Valley startup that helped give birth to the Internet — and then fumbled the ball. by Jeff Chase
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About the author

Jeff Chase is a Silicon Valley–based retired CFO that has worked for technology startups as well as notable public tech companies his entire career. His internal audit and treasury roles at 3Com afforded him access to their key executives. Their insights and recollections, with many others interviewed, sparked the creation of this book. He has worked for a dozen private VC backed tech startups, as well as public tech companies including JDS Uniphase, 3Com, Echelon, and ROLM, along with the accounting firms Deloitte and KPMG.

Jon Zilber has been the editor-in-chief of several tech magazines, including MacUser and PC/Computing. He launched and managed Palm's social media presence,and led communications teams for nonprofits such as the Sierra Club and TechSoup. He and his teams have been recognized with Emmy, Webby, Maggie, and duPont-Columbia awards. Jon is also an occasional musician, composer, and playwright.


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3Com
The unsung saga of the Silicon Valley startup that helped give birth to the Internet — and then fumbled the ball.
by Jeff Chase and Jon Zilber
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Overview

3Com's game-changing technology helped make everything from the Internet and WiFi to email and spam part of our daily lives today. 3Com not only offers the first comprehensive history of the Silicon Valley pioneer that changed how people and machines around the world connect and communicate, but also offers valuable lessons and cautionary tales for anybody trying to create the next big tech startup. After creating breakthrough technology that helped give birth to everything from the Internet to email, 3Com made a series of strategic missteps and misguided acquisitions that led to a nearly complete collapse. You'll discover how the company beat the odds and the skeptics, found itself in a tailspin, and managed to once again reinvent itself one last time. 3Com tells the story of the creators, choices, and chaos that characterize every startup. Drawn from dozens of interviews with the company's founders, a series of wildly different CEOs, and competitors like Cisco, it shares the story of not just a company, but a colorful cast of characters (both charismatic and curmudgeonly) that changed the company—and the hyper-networked world we take for granted today.
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Description

It's the hottest tech startup that nobody remembers. What went wrong? 3Com's game-changing technology helped make everything from the Internet, WiFi, and email part of our daily lives. The company's founder invented the core networking technology that made it possible to connect every computer, tablet, and phone on the planet—and later famously (and incorrectly) predicted the imminent death of the Internet. 3Com's legacy paved the way for the networked lifestyle—from Facebook to spam—that define our lives today. So what happened? More than just a history of a once-powerful tech powerhouse, readers will take away key business lessons still relevant today. They'll meet a kaleidoscopic cast of characters—people who illustrate how different personalities and leadership styles can shape the trajectory of a company reaching for the brass ring. Stories, drawn from dozens of first-hand interviews with 3Com executives and competitors and featuring tech icons like Steve Jobs, will explore the international skullduggery (real or imagined) involving companies like Huawei, Palm, and 3Com's arch-rival Cisco. Brilliant innovations, bungled mergers, record-smashing IPOs, and record-breaking financial "irregularities" are all part of the sweeping saga of 3Com's 30-year rollercoaster ride.
Read more

Overview

3Com's game-changing technology helped make everything from the Internet and WiFi to email and spam part of our daily lives today. 3Com not only offers the first comprehensive history of the Silicon Valley pioneer that changed how people and machines around the world connect and communicate, but also offers valuable lessons and cautionary tales for anybody trying to create the next big tech startup. After creating breakthrough technology that helped give birth to everything from the Internet to email, 3Com made a series of strategic missteps and misguided acquisitions that led to a nearly complete collapse. You'll discover how the company beat the odds and the skeptics, found itself in a tailspin, and managed to once again reinvent itself one last time. 3Com tells the story of the creators, choices, and chaos that characterize every startup. Drawn from dozens of interviews with the company's founders, a series of wildly different CEOs, and competitors like Cisco, it shares the story of not just a company, but a colorful cast of characters (both charismatic and curmudgeonly) that changed the company—and the hyper-networked world we take for granted today.

Read more

Description

It's the hottest tech startup that nobody remembers. What went wrong? 3Com's game-changing technology helped make everything from the Internet, WiFi, and email part of our daily lives. The company's founder invented the core networking technology that made it possible to connect every computer, tablet, and phone on the planet—and later famously (and incorrectly) predicted the imminent death of the Internet. 3Com's legacy paved the way for the networked lifestyle—from Facebook to spam—that define our lives today. So what happened? More than just a history of a once-powerful tech powerhouse, readers will take away key business lessons still relevant today. They'll meet a kaleidoscopic cast of characters—people who illustrate how different personalities and leadership styles can shape the trajectory of a company reaching for the brass ring. Stories, drawn from dozens of first-hand interviews with 3Com executives and competitors and featuring tech icons like Steve Jobs, will explore the international skullduggery (real or imagined) involving companies like Huawei, Palm, and 3Com's arch-rival Cisco. Brilliant innovations, bungled mergers, record-smashing IPOs, and record-breaking financial "irregularities" are all part of the sweeping saga of 3Com's 30-year rollercoaster ride.

Read more

Book details

Genre:BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

Subgenre:Industries / Computers & Information Technology

Language:English

Pages:296

Hardcover ISBN:9781733004008

Overview

3Com's game-changing technology helped make everything from the Internet and WiFi to email and spam part of our daily lives today. 3Com not only offers the first comprehensive history of the Silicon Valley pioneer that changed how people and machines around the world connect and communicate, but also offers valuable lessons and cautionary tales for anybody trying to create the next big tech startup. After creating breakthrough technology that helped give birth to everything from the Internet to email, 3Com made a series of strategic missteps and misguided acquisitions that led to a nearly complete collapse. You'll discover how the company beat the odds and the skeptics, found itself in a tailspin, and managed to once again reinvent itself one last time. 3Com tells the story of the creators, choices, and chaos that characterize every startup. Drawn from dozens of interviews with the company's founders, a series of wildly different CEOs, and competitors like Cisco, it shares the story of not just a company, but a colorful cast of characters (both charismatic and curmudgeonly) that changed the company—and the hyper-networked world we take for granted today.

Read more

Description

It's the hottest tech startup that nobody remembers. What went wrong? 3Com's game-changing technology helped make everything from the Internet, WiFi, and email part of our daily lives. The company's founder invented the core networking technology that made it possible to connect every computer, tablet, and phone on the planet—and later famously (and incorrectly) predicted the imminent death of the Internet. 3Com's legacy paved the way for the networked lifestyle—from Facebook to spam—that define our lives today. So what happened? More than just a history of a once-powerful tech powerhouse, readers will take away key business lessons still relevant today. They'll meet a kaleidoscopic cast of characters—people who illustrate how different personalities and leadership styles can shape the trajectory of a company reaching for the brass ring. Stories, drawn from dozens of first-hand interviews with 3Com executives and competitors and featuring tech icons like Steve Jobs, will explore the international skullduggery (real or imagined) involving companies like Huawei, Palm, and 3Com's arch-rival Cisco. Brilliant innovations, bungled mergers, record-smashing IPOs, and record-breaking financial "irregularities" are all part of the sweeping saga of 3Com's 30-year rollercoaster ride.

Read more

About the author

Jeff Chase is a Silicon Valley–based retired CFO that has worked for technology startups as well as notable public tech companies his entire career. His internal audit and treasury roles at 3Com afforded him access to their key executives. Their insights and recollections, with many others interviewed, sparked the creation of this book. He has worked for a dozen private VC backed tech startups, as well as public tech companies including JDS Uniphase, 3Com, Echelon, and ROLM, along with the accounting firms Deloitte and KPMG.

Jon Zilber has been the editor-in-chief of several tech magazines, including MacUser and PC/Computing. He launched and managed Palm's social media presence,and led communications teams for nonprofits such as the Sierra Club and TechSoup. He and his teams have been recognized with Emmy, Webby, Maggie, and duPont-Columbia awards. Jon is also an occasional musician, composer, and playwright.


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