Open-string models with broken supersymmetry

I review the salient features of three classes of open-string models with broken supersymmetry. These suffice to exhibit, in relatively simple settings, the two phenomena of 'brane supersymmetry' and 'brane supersymmetry breaking'. In the first class of models, to lowest order supersymmetry is broken both in the closed and in the open sectors. In the second class of models, to lowest order supersymmetry is broken in the closed sector, but is exact in the open sector, at least for the low-lying modes, and often for entire towers of string excitations. Finally, in the third class of models, to lowest order supersymmetry is exact in the closed (bulk) sector, but is broken in the open sector. Brane supersymmetry breaking provides a natural solution to some old difficulties met in the construction of open-string vacua. (author)