June 23, 2003

On June 9 the 3Com Corporation, in cooperation with The United States Conference of Mayors, through its Urban Challenge Program, awarded $600,000 to six cities this year at the Conference's 71st Annual meeting in Denver, Colorado. The grants announced today bring the total since the inception of the program four years ago, to 46 grants totaling approximately $4.6 million. Winning cities are: Colorado Springs, Colorado; Lowell, Massachusetts; Kansas City, Missouri; Newark, New Jersey; Temple, Texas; and Hampton, Virginia.

Fiscal belt tightening and decreased federal funding has placed U.S. cities and schools districts in the awkward position of having to choose between leveraging technology to improve municipal services or enhance their educational curriculums, and cut programs to align state budgets. These awards will help address this issue and enable rapid, substantial technology-based improvements in education as well as municipal services such as job training opportunities and healthcare delivery systems.

Conference President and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, expressed pride in the annual program and the need for cities to continue leveraging technology.

"We are proud to provide cities with basic technological tools that could further educate their youth and better prepare them for the future. These grants are helping underserved areas in cities keep up with the changing demands in education and technology," Menino said.

This year's winning cities received their awards at a special ceremony during The U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting held in Denver. Distributing the grants on behalf of 3Com was Mark Porter, Vice President of sales for 3Com's Western Region. Addressing the conference, Porter underscored taxpayers' call to use technology to find more efficient and productive ways of running education and local government institutions.

"Constituents are not willing to compromise government efficiencies and the value of a PC-based education for their children in the wake of state and local budget cuts. 3Com, in conjunction with The U.S. Conference of Mayors, understands this quandary. For the past four years, our two organizations have identified cities and school districts needing technology and infused them with $4.6 million in grants."

More than 1,600 inquiries were received from K-12 schools and local government institutions. This year's winners in alphabetical order by city are:

Colorado Springs, Colorado

The grant will enable Colorado Springs School District 11, Colorado's fourth largest school district, to upgrade the computer labs at 56 elementary, middle and high schools from shared Ethernet connections to a robust 10/100 megabits per second (Mbps) using managed 3Comâ switches. This added reliability and speed will dramatically increase students' ability to research Web sites, retrieve Internet-based files and access content stored on school networks — all of which are integral components of their daily learning experience.

"The City of Colorado Springs is pleased and proud to receive this enhancement to our educational and community development. It is our community's vision and goal to provide the means for high achievement by our students. We realize that it is critical to promote a positive difference in the lives of our youth and assist in their preparation of the skills they need to succeed in the future. 3Com's Urban Challenge grant will allow us to upgrade the current connectivity in computer labs in 56 Colorado Springs elementary, middle and high schools, thus helping students learn to be competitive in a global, interconnected, high tech world," said Colorado Springs mayor, Lionel Rivera.

Hampton, Virginia

Designated for the city's innovative "The Hampton Virtual Learning Community" project, designed to increase students' and citizens' technology skills and access to information, the 3Com award will make schools' computing resources available to the entire community. The city will use award monies to upgrade local area networks (LANs) at Hampton's four high schools to Gigabit Ethernet speed using new-generation 3Com switches. Hampton will also deploy 43 megabits per second (Mbps) lines at these schools, paving the way for a new school-wide Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network that will enable the city to offer such advances as distance learning and video streaming to students and residents.

"This is the Information Age, when it's vital that as many citizens as possible have access to technology," said Hampton's mayor, Mamie E. Locke. "We are delighted that the 3Com Urban Challenge Program is helping the city make technology so readily available to our schools, and to our community. "With 3Com's help, Hampton is building a brighter future for its citizens, and the city's dream of a virtual connected community of learning is well within its reach."

Kansas City, Missouri

The Kansas City, Missouri School District (KCMSD) will launch a new initiative to raise the test scores of twenty'six district, K-12 schools via a new, building-wide Fast Ethernet network. The new system will immediately permit each school to network interactive learning software using high'speed 3Com switches to introduce video streaming and other innovative, high-bandwidth applications into their curricula.

"Through this new grant, students in the Kansas City Missouri School District will be given additional tools to improve their education, raise their grades and pave the way to a better future," said Kansas City Mayor, Kay Barnes. "We thank The U.S. Conference of Mayors and 3Com for partnering in this initiative that will help children in Kansas City succeed in a very competitive, technology driven world."

Lowell, Massachusetts

With the $100,000 stipend, the city will overhaul an antiquated telecommunications infrastructure built over the last 100 years with a 3Com IP-based telephony solution that will dramatically improve its communications. Deployed at the Lowell City Hall, the feature-rich 3Com¨ NBX¨ voice solution will eliminate the difficulty users' and citizens encountered making connections with the previous system. In addition to these improvements, the 3Com networked telephony solution will significantly reduce Lowell's high-priced, 1,500-plus analog telephone lines, saving major operating and maintenance costs.

"The City of Lowell has 1,500-plus analog phone lines in use across 92 locations with neither a centralized PBX, call tree, or voice mail, and a cost-of-ownership that has spiraled out of control. The 3Com Urban Challenge award will allow the city to implement 3Com's NBX voice over IP-based system. The NBX system will introduce a new level of service to our citizens, including a multi-language call tree, automated informational announcements, and the ability to speed callers along to the appropriate department. Equally important, is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of our telecommunications system, which is expected to drop significantly as a result of consolidating analog lines, and reducing cabling plant related costs," said Mr. Mir‡n Fernandez, chief information officer, City of Lowell.

Newark, New Jersey

The 3Com award will be used by the City of Newark, in partnership with the New Community Corporation (NCC). NCC's Community Technology Center project will network several community centers and affiliated public and charter schools in the city's disadvantaged neighborhoods. Using a wireless LAN powered by 3Com systems, the new technology centers will promote computer-based learning by adding high'speed Internet access, distance learning and Web casting to their family-literacy, summer camp and After-School programs.

"Through this new program, I am proud to provide students with the proper technology and learning tools that they would not otherwise have to compete in the global economy," said Newark Mayor, Sharpe James. "Newark is viewed as one of the most wired cities in the country and this just enhances our ability to equip and prepare our young people for the future."

Temple, Texas

Using 3Com voice, wireless and Gigabit Ethernet systems, the city will provide the communications infrastructure for the Temple College Business Training and Incubator Center—a nesting ground for local businesses. The Temple Center will deploy a 3Com networked telephony phone system, Gigabit Ethernet switches and wireless systems to provide the advanced voice, data and video services today's new businesses require. Entrepreneurs will benefit from such advanced applications as interactive videoconferencing and use wired and wireless laptops to easily access online resources they need for research and communications.

"This prestigious award from 3Com will be used by our community to obtain needed equipment and services that will allow us to better serve our under'served population," said Temple's mayor, William A Jones, III. "The Urban Challenge grant greatly advances Temple's effort to use modern technology to serve our community and is especially valuable at these times when we all face tight budgets. It is highly complementary to similar efforts underway by many of our consortium partners."

For more information on 3Com's Urban Challenge or this year's award winners, please visit www.3com.com/urbanchallenge.