Calling themselves the Network Interoperability Alliance, the companies said they plan to standardize the design and deployment of LANs by integrating Bay Networks' switching and router technology, 3Com's network management tools, and IBM's high-speed switched services. One result will be the easier creation of virtual local area networks (VLANs) that allow specific user groups within a company to connect without physical rewiring.

The three companies expect to propose their LAN specifications to international standard committees.

The alliance is partially a reaction to an announcement made two weeks ago by Cisco, Stratacom, and Ascend to improve their customers' networking power.