Open Services Networking

3Com Open Services Networking provides flexibility and cost savings

The Public Sector Network is the Government’s approach to modernising the provision of ICT to the Public Sector. 3Com networks support this initiative: our solutions are based on established industry standards and flexibility is at the heart of 3Com’s approach.

Open Services Networking (OSN) is a 3Com initiative for enhancing business networks while reducing costs, maximising revenue and helping organisations to address new business challenges as they arise.

Unique challenges exist in every business environment and no single vendor has the best solution for every requirement. Those enterprises locked into proprietary solutions can find upgrade programs take much longer while they wait for the vendor to develop the applications they need or want to deploy. This may restrict business growth in the short term, effecting business continuity in the long term.

The new initiative allows organisations to accelerate the deployment of new services on the network by freeing them to choose from a wide choice of available best-in-class technology applications, whether from 3Com, best-of-breed application providers, the open source community or even those developed in-house.

Delivered by way of an industry-standard Linux module, complete with software development kit, OSN enables integrators, third party developers and 3Com Partners to create integrated applications that enhance the functionality of 3Com products. This open approach not only widens the software options available for 3Com’s customers, it exemplifies 3Com’s continuing industry leadership by expanding the functionality of its solutions beyond basic network connectivity.

The OSN initiative offers lasting investment protection and increased control of business operations by providing new flexibility in the network infrastructure. The network is allowed to evolve, quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, OSN drives savings in both capital and operating expenses with an integrated hardware infrastructure that reduces the amount of equipment that an organisation needs to purchase, implement, manage and support.

The OSN Module (OSN|M) has already been integrated into a number of the current 3Com product families, with more development planned for 2008. It was introduced with the launch of the 3Com Multi-Service Router (MSR) platform. This will allow organisations to optimise bandwidth and integrate multiple services such as voice and video, security and monitoring applications. The platform delivers an open community of services providing a common architecture, a single software level and uncomplicated, flexible module choices.

As part of this initiative, 3Com has also launched the 3Com Open Network™ Program (3Com|ON™), a global technology partner program designed to support relationships with best-of-breed independent software and hardware vendors, system integrators and the open source community. 3Com|ON creates unique opportunities for members to expand their market reach by developing solutions or practices that add value to 3Com's OSN, IP telephony and security platforms.