Cisco's new Application eXtension Platform turns several models of Cisco switches into Linux application servers. With libraries in C, Java and Perl, developers will be able to use a downloadable SDK to build their apps. Check http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9701/index.html for details.

While I don’t see companies rushing to buy Cisco switches in lieu of a blade server, there could be interesting applications for extending the existing investment that customers have made in Cisco switches by making them run some applications. For example Branch application scenarios could benefit by this move. Wow ! The network is becoming the computer.