3Com (COMS) has appointed Robert Mao as its new global CEO, and he will continue to serve on the company's board of directors.

To support the company's increasing emphasis on its China-based H3C operations, Mao will be based in China. At present, 3Com does not have steady business in China. Last fall, Bain Capital and Huawei proposed to acquire 3Com, but the deal failed over the U.S. government's concern that 3Com's security technology might be put into the hands of Huawei, A Chinese company.

Mao, 64, was most recently 3Com executive vice president for corporate development from August 2006 to March 2007. Prior to joining 3Com, Mao worked for Nortel Networks, where he was president and CEO of the company's greater China operations from 1997 to 2006. Prior to his time at Nortel, he was regional president of Greater China for Alcatel.

"I am extremely excited about this opportunity to help 3Com capitalize on the tremendous potential it has to enhance its position as a global networking leader," said Mao in a press statement. "I believe 3Com can leverage H3C as the cornerstone of its future. In less than five years, H3C has built a broad, world-class portfolio of networking, video and storage solutions and gained market share leadership in China. Our objective now is to combine the strength and momentum of H3C with 3Com's global customer base, well-recognized brand, service and support infrastructure and proven distribution channel. By leveraging these strengths, we will offer customers broad, high-quality, cost-effective solutions on a worldwide basis – this is a compelling value proposition."

Mao is replacing Edgar Masri who is leaving the company.