Abstract

3Com commissioned Tolly to evaluate features that go "beyond performance" for their network interface card. 

This Tolly Group Technology Spotlight profiles the 3Com EtherLink III PCMCIA as part of the broader 1994 Network Interface Cards – Beyond Performance study, which examined network adapters on criteria extending beyond raw speed and price. Rather than focusing only on benchmark throughput, Tolly evaluated products in four practical areas that directly affect deployment cost and operational value: compatibility with existing hardware and software, ease of installation and configuration, technical support, and network management. In this profile, the EtherLink III PCMCIA is identified as a PCMCIA-bus adapter for 4/16Mbit/s token-ring environments. 

The report explains that Tolly’s six-month research program covered more than 20 adapter cards across Ethernet, token ring, and FDDI topologies and across ISA, EISA, MCA, and PCMCIA bus types. This document isolates the feature profile of the 3Com EtherLink III PCMCIA and compares it against the prevailing “industry norm.” In compatibility, the card is credited with providing a list of supported software products and operating systems as well as a list of PC systems in which the card had been tested. The features matrix shows support for NetWare 3.11 and 4.01 client ODI for DOS, and LAN Network Manager support is also indicated in the management section. By contrast, several other environments, including NDIS 3, NDIS 2 for OS/2, and NetWare client or server support in some OS combinations, were not marked as supported in the same way. 

For ease of use, the EtherLink III PCMCIA is shown as supporting software configuration, automatic driver installation from the utility, a diagnostic utility, and an LED status indicator. It did not place its configuration utility in flash memory and did not include an upgradeable ROM. On the support side, Tolly shows strong coverage, including toll-free phone support, weekday basic support, no-charge basic support, worldwide technical support, and extended support options such as weekend, 24x7, on-site, and other contract-based services. The bulletin board system offering included current driver versions, update visibility, documentation, patches, and 14.4Kbit/s-or-faster modem access. 

In management, the card did not implement DMTF, SNMP, or proprietary management, but it did indicate LAN Network Manager support. Overall, the report presents the 3Com EtherLink III PCMCIA as a mobile adapter whose primary strengths were installation simplicity, strong support resources, and solid documented compatibility, rather than advanced management functionality.