Adam

3Com Corporation: Forget Cisco, Think Open Source

Joe,

While I agree that the way to challenge the established incumbents is using Open Source (I am the founder of an Open Source Software Company) I question how this can work for 3Com. The business model for Open Source depends upon ongoing service/support fees. While 3Com can probably make some margin by bundling Open Source Software with hardware, these margins will be very small. 3Com delivers their product to market via distributor and resellers. The resellers are the recipients of the support fee's not 3Com. In fact, in the Open Source example you propose, 3Com is only providing a convenience by pre-loading Open Source onto a hardware platform, something that one of their partners can also do.

In fact, last reported quarter 3Com's service business was $9M on revenue of $319M

Open Source, Im not sure how 3Com can get there from here?

Adam