Cisco Cisco Application Extension Platform for SRE White Paper

White Paper

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The Cisco Application eXtension Platform:
Doing More with Less

The Cisco

Application eXtension Platform (AXP) extends the integration technology capability of

integrated services routers to the next level. It enables third parties such as independent software

vendors, systems integrators, managed service providers, and large enterprise customers to

extend the functionality of the router by providing their own value-added integrated services

customized to the individual business.

Cisco’s AXP is the foundation for a new class of network-embedded applications and solutions.

These applications natively use routing capabilities and real-time network information and

conditions in the network by interacting with routing functionality. The Cisco AXP changes how

these applications are deployed, integrated, and managed by delivering an integration capability

for branch applications. AXP truly uses the network as a platform and enhances the performance

of the application by interacting with common network services such as authentication, security,

and routing to applications.

AXP can be separated into two fundamental areas:

●

The facilities and frameworks to host third-party applications

●

The service APIs to integrate the application into the network

Based on the above tenets, there are a few primary areas of cost savings in owning and operating

an AXP-based environment. We created a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model to elaborate

upon the possible cost savings. This model is based on rigorous research and empirical data from

use cases. This is a model utilizing operational expenses in a scenario with 10 branch-office sites.

Each branch office is estimated to have an average of 50 employees. The model accounts for

expenditures over a three-year lifecycle.

Development Costs

Reduced effort for development of network-hosted applications and services accounts for a

majority of the cost savings. In the case of the AXP-based model, because the network is being

utilized as a platform, there are savings in terms of time and development costs because of the

integrated services and libraries and the APIs, which allow developers to access them. The

application is able to deal directly with the network and partake from Cisco IOS

Software

integration APIs and use the features of the router, including packet monitoring, Cisco IOS

Software information, event triggers, Cisco IOS Software configuration, and the ability to reach out

and control serial and USB devices.

The AXP facilitates three primary application access modes: direct access, promiscuous access,

and injected access. This available support structure makes it easier to develop, build, test,

deploy, and manage components related to network-hosted applications. This allows improved

flexibility because of interaction with common network services such as authentication, security,

and routing to applications. It also provides an improved time to value with cost-effective solutions

due to the extensible CLI for Cisco IOS Software APIs. All of these capabilities provide savings of

time and development costs by utilizing prebuilt mediations and libraries.