HP take over 3Com to compete Cisco

Hewlett Packard has announced today that the company has entered into an agreement to purchase networking infrastructure company 3Com for an estimated $2.7 billion dollars.

If the deal is approved, the acquisition of 3Com, which is well known across the globe for their networking and security products, stands to expand HP’s reach into the worldwide networking products market. Not only will this mean more product offerings in addition to HP’s ProCurve line of networking equipment, the deal will also give HP a large research team in China to help further expand networking solutions.

According to HP CIO and executive vice president Randy Mott, Hewlett Packard plans on hitting the ground running with new networking products after the merger deal is finished. ”Based on our experience and extensive testing of 3Com’s products, we are planning to undertake a global rollout within HP as soon as possible after the completion of the acquisition,” said Mott.

The details of the deal according to the press release have HP purchasing shares of 3Com stock at $7.90 a piece at the close of the merger. At 12:04 PM EST the current price of 3Com stock was at $7.49.

The HP/3Com merger deal now goes to company shareholders for their approval.