3Com, Symbol and Abaco Team to Deliver Mobile Connectivity to SAP R/3 Solutions via the Palm Computing Platform
NEW YORK — June 22, 1998 — 3Com Corp. (NASDAQ: COMS), Symbol (NYSE: SBL) and Abaco International Group today announced a strategic alliance to create mobile enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions based on 3Com's market-leading Palm Computing(R) platform. The companies will jointly develop a mobile solution to link SAP(tm) R/3(tm) applications to special Palm Computing platform devices made by Symbol Technologies that will allow enterprise users to remotely access enterprise data. Abaco is spearheading the solution development with its software called The Bridge for R/3 which provides a Palm Computing platform interface to information resident in SAP R/3 applications. SAP R/3 provides the business and technology backbone for this mobile computing solution.
Symbol will integrate the Abaco technology with its Palm Computing platform-based devices that feature wireless communications, bar code scanning capabilities and rugged design to deliver an end-to-end remote access solution to enterprise customers. The solution will provide a low-cost mobile access point to ERP business processes, enabling real-time two-way communication for mobile workers and reducing the total cost of ownership for ERP customers.
The mobile access solution is ideal for applications such as sales force automation, help desk automation and warehousing, and in industries for which portability is crucial such as retail, transportation, parcel and postal delivery, manufacturing and health care.
"Symbol is moving aggressively to enable our customers the freedom to collect, manage and communicate data from the point of activity," said Ron Goldman, vice president of mobile computing systems for Symbol Technologies. "The Palm Computing platform combined with our scanning and wireless technologies empowers mobile workers with two-way access to ERP resources, providing greater efficiency to a broad range of businesses."
"This new and exciting combination of easy-to-use mobile hardware devices and the Bridge to R/3 software empowers large numbers of employees at the point of activity to have real-time integration with their SAP business backbone," said Heinz Roggenkemper, executive vice president of development for SAP Labs. "We see great potential for this solution to further streamline important business areas such as inventory, warehouse and material management, or transportation and field services."
"This alliance puts us at the forefront of the emerging mobile enterprise management market," said Fernando Alvarez, president of Abaco International Group. "Symbol's Palm Computing platform device will allow mobile users to take advantage of their enterprise applications from anywhere."
Symbol's mobile access solution will integrate its Palm Computing platform-based devices, which offer high performance bar code laser scanning and wireless local area network communications, with Abaco's innovative technology, which is certified by SAP as an automated data collection and mobile computing solution for use across applications. This will enable a smooth path to the SAP system for data collected with the Symbol device.
"This relationship builds on our strategy to work with best-of-breed companies to enable important mobile computing solutions based on the Palm Computing platform for the enterprise and vertical markets," said Mark Bercow, vice president of strategic alliances and platform development for Palm Computing. "With Abaco's expertise in connecting with enterprise data resources and Symbol's advanced technology for wireless information access and bar code scanning, we are creating a powerful solution that brings the benefits of the Palm Computing platform to a broad new range of enterprise customers."
ABOUT SYMBOL
Symbol Technologies Inc. is a global leader in mobile computing and communications systems with innovative customer solutions based on wireless local area networking, application-specific mobile computing and bar code data capture. Symbol's wireless LAN solutions are installed at more than 30,000 customer locations worldwide and support more than six million Symbol scanners and hand-held computers. Symbol provides point-of-activity computing solutions for retailing, transportation and distribution logistics, parcel and postal delivery, health care, manufacturing, and other industries.
ABOUT ABACO
Abaco International Group, founded in 1989, is a software development and systems integration company, as well as a value added reseller of electronic data collection equipment. Abaco produces and distributes the Abaco Bridge and The Bridge for R/3, a technology platform for the integration of automated data collection/mobile computing data into Enterprise Resource Planning systems. Abaco specializes in providing standardized or customized solutions meeting the global data acquisition requirements of its customers' manufacturing/distribution, human resource and sales force automation applications.
ABOUT 3COM
3Com Corporation enables individuals and organizations worldwide to communicate and share information and resources at anytime 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 large enterprises, small and medium enterprises, carriers and network service providers, and consumers 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 World Wide Web site at http://www.3Com.com or the press site at http//www.3Com.com/pressbox.
3Com and Palm Computing are registered trademarks, and PalmPilot and Palm III are trademarks, of 3Com Corp. or its subsidiaries. The PalmPilot product is not manufactured by Pilot Corp. or Pilot Corp. of America, manufacturers and distributors of writing instruments. All other products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.
SAP, R3, and all SAP product and service names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG.
CONTACT:
Elizabeth Cardinale Doug Picker
Palm Computing, Inc., a 3Com Company Symbol Technologies
650-237-6390 800-927-9626
Elizabeth_Cardinale@3Com.com picker@symbol.com
or
Amy Reardon Nemechek Amy McGill
A&R Partners for Palm Computing Waggener Edstrom for SAP
650-363-0982 x252 503-245-0905
anemechek@arpartners.com amym@wagged.com