Cisco networks to work closer with applications

Cisco Systems Inc on Tuesday launched technology to make computer networks smarter, faster and more secure by making the equipment that directs data link better with the software applications that use it. Called Application Oriented Networking, or AON, the new technology also lets networks speak the language of software applications that run on top of them.
"What Cisco is proposing to do is (integrate) functions that today are performed by various middleware (software) products and put those functions directly into the network," said John Rymer, an analyst at Forrester Research.