The OMC proposes its members develop common methods of collecting, sharing and reporting on management data collected across enterprise networks.

The premise of the OMC appeals to buyers because standards for collecting and sharing management data could address a critical pain point: freeware applications and proprietary products remain difficult and time consuming to install, integrate and customize.

"Open source management historically has been a bunch of fiefdoms that haven't come together in a comprehensive way for end users," says Mike Erwin, founder, president and chairman of Symbiot, a member of OMC. "The industry really needed something that could combine the efforts and help mature the separate projects on a similar path."

(Denise Dubie of Network World contributed to this article.)