Cisco eyes the application layer

Everyone seems to love the idea of an application-aware network that makes deploying and configuring middleware easier -- mainly because application and data integration remain the toughest work in IT. Cisco has made vague noises about smart networking equipment that would do just that ever since its AON (Application-Oriented Networking) initiative launch last June. Last week, at the company's Worldwide Analyst Conference, it cranked up the volume, introducing its SONA (Service-Oriented Network Architecture).

The SONA framework calls for a network that links all the resources in an enterprise and will include a set of ANSes (Application Networking Services) that work across those resources, said Charles Giancarlo, Cisco's senior vice president and chief development officer, in a keynote address. This "intelligent network" can help the enterprise better take advantage of storage, clients, servers, and other IT resources, he said.

Yet, other than drawing a box around the whole of enterprise IT and calling it "the network," it's difficult to determine the intent of the SONA framework. The core appears to be what Cisco calls an "interactive services" layer, which sits between the application and infrastructure layers and includes ANS. Giancarlo describes ANS as "a generic set of capabilities for improving the speed, accessibility, and interoperability of most any type of business application."

Cisco is taking the right approach by adding such new capabilities, but the company should put them into separate appliances instead of switches and routers, said Burton Group analyst David Passmore. Enterprises don't want to swap out their network gear, and many don't own their own infrastructure because they outsource.