3Com say their OSN is the industry's first open platform to integrate best-of-breed and open-source applications into the fabric of the network infrastructure, enabling organizations to drive operational simplicity, reduce capital expenditures and operating costs, and achieve lasting investment protection while addressing ever-changing business needs. OSN enables end users to run open-source, third–party and 3Com-developed applications and solutions that deliver intelligence, flexibility, performance and control directly inside the network with the ease of use, support and economy of an integrated solution. OSN is a key element of the company’s next-generation Secure, Converged Networking strategy to drive even greater application integration directly into the network infrastructure.
The Multi-Service Router with OSN, introduced today, is designed for deployment at enterprise branch and regional offices and by managed service providers seeking to enhance business continuity, security and operational efficiency. In a feature-rich IP router platform, applications run on Open Services Modules (OSM); this makes it easy to deploy a variety of enhancements to communications, security and network performance. There is no need to deploy numerous single-task appliances that complicate network management, take up valuable facility space, and consume excessive power.