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June 21, 2005
AON ( Application Orientated Networking ) : Lines get blurrier
Middleware vendors -- those that make the software to enable web driven applications based on backend systems -- have characterized themselves since the web's inception as 'moving up the stack', the latest validation of this is Service Orientated Architecture (SOA). However, today marked a curious milestone for a market segment that had generally been considered 'out of the stack' in terms of applications : Networking. Cisco introduced the term Application Orientated Networking (AON) ( Related stories : Cisco networks to work closer with applications & Cisco muscles into software ).
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The concept of AON is based on the premise of inspecting and processing application level data before it hits the heart of the middleware tier -- at the boundry so to speak -- and having the application logic bundled within the hardware appliance.
A closer look at middleware vendors though, will show that they are no strangers to bundling hardware and middleware software as a one stop solution -- think Sun and IBM which can handle both areas without external alliances -- and generally offer their middleware software for close to nothing when being bundled.
What is most interesting about AON, is that the term is being coined by a player considered an outsider in applications, and more an infrastructure hardware vendor. If Cisco will harness any interest among IT buyers for this new initiative is yet to be seen. However, what is certain is that this push demonstrates how blurry the lines are getting between the major industry players and what they have to offer.
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Posted by Daniel at June 21, 2005 9:38 AM
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