3Com Reshuffles Management, Seeks New Top Sales Exec

The vendor said it is looking to recruit an executive vice president of sales to oversee both indirect and direct channels, which would be a newly created position. 3Com President and CEO Bruce Claflin is filling the role on an interim basis, and Dave Smith, vice president of sales and services for the Americas, and Pax Andersson, vice president of international sales and services, would report to the new executive, a spokeswoman said.

3Com also named Dennis Connors executive vice president of operations. Connors previously served as president of 3Com's recently divested CommWorks division, which focuses on building hardware for telecom service providers.

Earlier this month, 3Com reached an agreement in which UTStarcom will acquire selected assets of CommWorks for about $100 million in cash. UTStarcom is an Alameda, Calif.-based telecom equipment vendor with a significant presence in China. Connors will remain with CommWorks until the close of the sale, 3Com said.

In addition, 3Com promoted Mark Slaven, senior vice president of finance and CFO, to executive vice president and CFO.

"Going forward, everything we do at 3Com--including the organizational structure we create--will support the vision of being the leading networking company of the future," Claflin said in a statement.

3Com is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Wednesday after the market closes. Wall Street analysts expect the company to report a loss of 6 cents on revenue of $242 million, according to First Call/Thomson Financial.

LARRY HOOPER contributed to this story.