January 20, 1998 1:00 PM EST

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 1998--
Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU) and 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS) today 
announced that they will conduct joint interoperability testing of their
56-kilobits-per-second (Kbps)(1) industry-standard modems and modem chip
sets. 

The collaboration will ensure compatibility between the two companies'
modem products using an emerging industry standard referred to as V.pcm. 

An International Telecommunications Union (ITU) committee began working in
April 1997 to develop a standard for "pulse code modulation" (PCM) modems
-- the fastest analog modems available today. On December 4, 1997 the ITU
working group agreed to a compromise on key technical issues referred to as
V.pcm. The forthcoming standard, comprised of an equitable mix of K56flex
and x2 technology, will be determined at a plenary meeting of the ITU Study
Group 16 in Geneva, Switzerland February 5-6. 

Both 3Com and Lucent expect to have interoperable products on the market
shortly after that ITU meeting, as well as software upgrades to make
existing K56flex(TM) and x2(TM) modems compliant with the
soon-to-be-released standard. 

"Interoperability testing is one of the first steps toward ensuring
compatibility," said Dale Walsh, senior vice president of advanced
development at 3Com. "Our goal is to provide Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) and end-users with universally compatible 56K service as soon as
possible. This is a significant win for consumers because we will be able
to deliver interoperable standards-based products to the market much
faster. We commend Lucent for its support of the ITU compromise reached
earlier this month and look forward to working with them." 

"3Com and Lucent are striving to have standards-compliant products on the
market as quickly as possible, and to upgrade the Lucent K56flex and 3Com
x2 client and server modems already in use with V.pcm software," said Bob
Rango, general manager of modem integrated circuits for Lucent's
Microelectronics Group. "We expect other vendors will join this effort when
they have standard-based products to test." 

About Lucent Technologies 

Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs, builds
and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications
systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems
and microelectronics components. Bell Labs is the research and development
arm for the company. Lucent's Microelectronics Group designs and
manufactures integrated circuits and optoelectronic components for the
computer and communications industries. More information about Lucent's
high-speed modem technology can be found on the Microelectronics Group's
web site at www.lucent.com/micro/K56flex and at www.k56flex.com. More
general information about the Microelectronics Group is available from its
web site at www.lucent.com/micro. 

About 3Com Corporation 

3Com Corporation enables individuals and organizations worldwide to
communicate and share information and resources at any time from anywhere.
As one of the world's preeminent suppliers of data, voice and video
communications technology, 3Com has delivered networking solutions to more
than 100 million customers worldwide. The company provides enterprises,
network service providers and carriers, small businesses and consumers with
comprehensive, innovative information access products and system solutions
for building intelligent, reliable and high performance local and wide area
networks. For further information, visit 3Com's web site at
www.3Com.com.