Christopher Cook, senior solutions engineer at systems integrator U.S. North Networks LLC in Holyoke, Mass., said the new Linux-based module "definitely gives 3Com an edge" over other router vendors, and is something he plans to sell to his customers. "If you are a customer with a corporate network, then it's a very easy and convenient way to disperse applications. You can just grab an application that already runs on Linux without the pain of setting up servers at each location."

Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at Yankee Group Research Inc. in Boston, said the OSN concept might help 3Com in its battle with market leader Cisco Systems Inc. "I think if someone's going to gain ground on Cisco, it's not going to be done by doing what Cisco does, which is to control the applications and services that run on its platforms" of routers and switches. "Cisco wants to control end to end, but this is an alternative approach, to create a device that runs a bunch of the best-of-breed third party apps."

With 3Com's OSN, "if you can run Linux, you can run VMware; and if can run VMware, you can run almost any application," Kerravala added.

3Com has faced financial problems and management turnover, Kerravala noted, "so it's fair to say that 3Com's track record would raise some questions whether 3Com can execute this OSN, which is radical and off the wall, but the right thing to do."

Nontraditional buyers in the open-source community and applications developers might be enticed by the concept, he said.