Editing 3Com (section)

===2001 and beyond===
In January 2001, Claflin became [[chief executive officer]], replacing [[Éric Benhamou]], CEO from 1990 to 2000. He was criticized for the costly diversification in the mobile handheld computer market.
At this point, the company's main line of business, selling add-on network interface controllers ("NICs"), was also shrinking rapidly, mainly because many new computers had NICs built in. The company started slashing or selling divisions and going through numerous rounds of [[Reduction in force|layoffs]]. The company went from employing more than 12,000 employees to fewer than 2,000.

In May 2003, the company moved its [[Silicon Valley]] [[Santa Clara, California|Santa Clara]] headquarters to [[Marlborough, Massachusetts|Marlborough]], Massachusetts. It also formed a venture called H3C with [[Huawei]], whereby 3Com would sell and rebrand products under the joint venture.<ref>{{Cite web|date=6 May 2003|title=3Com to Move Out of Silicon Valley|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-may-06-fi-3com6-story.html|url-status=live|access-date=24 June 2021|website=Los Angeles Times|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210314170256/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-may-06-fi-3com6-story.html  |archive-date = 2021-03-14  }}</ref>

In 2003, 3Com sold its [[CommWorks Corporation]] subsidiary to [[UTStarcom|UTStarcom, Inc.]] CommWorks was based in Rolling Meadows, [[Illinois]], and developed wireline [[telecommunications]] and [[wireless]] [[infrastructure]] technologies.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hooper|first=Larry|date=2003-03-06|title=Partners Praise 3Com Growth Plan|url=https://www.crn.com/news/networking/18829859/partners-praise-3com-growth-plan.htm|access-date=2021-06-24|website=CRN|archive-date=2024-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007083445/https://www.crn.com/news/networking/18829859/partners-praise-3com-growth-plan|url-status=live}}</ref>

In January 2006, Claflin announced he would be leaving the company. In January 2006, R Scott Murray became CEO of 3Com and chairman of H3C Technology in China, the joint venture with Huawei Technologies. Murray voluntarily resigned from the company in August 2006 over his concerns about the questionable business ethics of Huawei and potential cyber security risks posed by Huawei. Edgar Masri returned to 3Com to head as president and CEO following Murray's departure.

In September 2007, Bain Capital agreed to buy the company for $2.2 billion, with minority equity financing from Huawei Technologies. However, the deal met with US government regulatory opposition and it fell through early in 2008, following concerns over Huawei's risk of conducting cyber security attacks against the United States and its allies, Huawei's former dealings in Iran, and Huawei being operated by a former engineer<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/13/tech/huawei-ren-zhengfei/index.html|title=Who is Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei?|author=Sherisse Pham|date=2019|website=CNN|access-date=2019-05-20|archive-date=2024-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007083552/https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/13/tech/huawei-ren-zhengfei/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> in China's [[People's Liberation Army]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/09/29/3com_goes_private_in_bain_huawei_deal|title=3Com goes private in Bain, Huawei deal|first=Hiawatha|last=Bray|date=29 September 2007|work=The Boston Globe}}</ref><ref>[http://pcworld.about.com/od/networkin1/Deal-to-buy-3Com-falls-apart.htm Deal to Buy 3Com Falls Apart - About.com]  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218102515/http://pcworld.about.com/od/networkin1/Deal-to-buy-3Com-falls-apart.htm |date=February 18, 2012 }}</ref> Edgar Masri left the company in April 2008, partially as a result of the failed Bain transaction.

In April 2008, [[Robert Mao]] was named chief executive, and [[Ron Sege]] president and chief operating officer.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.3com.com/corpinfo/en_US/pressbox/press_release.jsp?INFO_ID=290414 |title=3Com Announces Senior Leadership Changes to Accelerate Global Business Plan |access-date=2008-05-13 |archive-date=2008-09-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905123502/http://www.3com.com/corpinfo/en_US/pressbox/press_release.jsp?INFO_ID=290414 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In fiscal year 2008 ended May 30, 2008, 3Com had annual revenue of $1.3 billion and more than 6,000 employees in over 40 countries. In September 2008, 3Com reported financial results for its fiscal 2009 first quarter, which ended August 29, 2008. Revenue in the quarter was $342.7 million compared to revenue of $319.4 million in the corresponding period in fiscal 2008, a 7 percent increase. Net income in the quarter was $79.8 million, compared with a net loss of $18.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=61382&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1199528&highlight=|title=News Releases|access-date=2008-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904033238/http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=61382&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1199528&highlight=|archive-date=2015-09-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The company reported that it had more than 2,700 engineers, with more than 1,400 United States patents and nearly 180 Chinese-issued patents, as well as more than 1050 pending Chinese applications. It also reported pending applications for 35 separate inventions outside of China covering a wide range of networking technologies.