Stories about: Matrix Partners

Few reports have surfaced of security breaches in virtual-server environments, but the potential looms large.

Despite a reported slump in venture funding for network companies, a handful of vendors this month landed venture capital cash.

Edgar Masri, now the president and CEO of 3Com, rejoined the networking company in August 2006 after six years at Matrix Partners, a venture capital firm. Before that, he was general manager of 3Com's network systems business unit. Since his return, the company has acquired 100% of its former joint venture with China-based H3C Technologies Co., formerly known as Huawei, and announced that it is being bought by Bain Capital Partners, a private investment firm, for US$2.2 billion in cash. As the company looks to go private, Masri, 49, talked with Computerworld about how 3Com has grown, how it hopes to take on Cisco and the importance of open source.

Startup Akorri Monday announced it had garnered US$15 million (AU$18.2 million) in venture capital funding to further develop its technology designed to maximize application performance by optimizing server and storage resource utilization in virtual environments.

One year ago, Network World highlighted 10 open source companies on the rise 10 open source companies on the rise in such diverse fields as storage, VOIP, systems management, virtualization and the use of software to aid disaster relief.

Everybody knows virtualization isn't just about VMware anymore. Many users are past the rush to server virtualization and now need to increase the benefits of the move. They need not only to improve efficiency, performance and management, but also to find ways to extend the technology to their desktop, storage and mobile environments. That's a heavy burden. Product choices can be overwhelming, and a starting point difficult to find. Get on your way with promising products from these 10 companies:

The dream of every CIO, says Francis Carden, CEO of OpenSpan is to instantly turn all of their legacy applications into reusable components.

From business intelligence to CRM, from scheduling and e-procurement to database management and data governance, there is no shortage of enterprise applications available to help businesses make their processes more efficient. Choosing can be difficult, however: Do you go open source? Software-as-a-service, or in-house deployment? Every vendor has a sales pitch. Here are 10 worth watching.

When 3Com CEO Scott Murray stepped down abruptly in August 2006, after just seven months on the job, 3Com veteran Edgar Masri was called in to take over his old company. Masri led successful enterprise, carrier and network access business units at 3Com in the 1990s. When the company shed these businesses in an ill-fated transformation attempt in 2000, Masri left the firm and became a venture capitalist at Matrix Partners, and later COO at WiMax firm Redline Communications.

Open source software is a given in most enterprise data centers, so it's not surprising to see the ranks of open source companies and projects swell. It's not just Linux anymore - community-developed software is offering alternatives for everything from databases to application servers to network management to disaster preparedness. How do you know which open source approach is right for you? We've pulled out a few start-ups that you might not be familiar with, but we think should be on your radar.

An abrupt CEO change at 3Com should not affect the company's immediate operations, its joint venture with Huawei or it customer base, analysts and customers say. Long term, though, the company faces big questions: How long can it scrape by in markets dominated by Cisco? And where will it find growth?