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Cisco plans to turn routers into servers

by on09 October 2009

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Pushes into server market


Cisco is
turning many of the millions of routers it has already sold into servers in a bid to push into the server market. Normally a router pushes around data packets. Cisco has now created the Application Extension Platform, or AXP, which will change all that.

AXP gives software developers a way to write applications that run on an additional bit of hardware that sits alongside Cisco’s routers. It could take away much of the work that was typically handled by a small server. To make sure that people do this Cisco ran a competition to encourage developers to come up with ideas to make it work.

The third-place contestant, Bernard Beckmann of Germany, who won $20,000, found a way to turn VoIP phones connected to Cisco’s networking gear into office surveillance systems. The speakers on the phones were essentially made to act like microphones that would try to sense unusual noises during off-peak office hours. If the phone picked up on something strange, it would send an alert to security personnel.

Rajesh Kotagiri of India, won $30,000 for devising a system for sending ads to electronic displays in stores. The idea there is that a store already has networking equipment to support things like computers, cash registers and phones.

First-place winner, David Perez of Spain worked out a way to pull data from a building’s plumbing, air-conditioning and lighting systems and funnel all of it through a router. This would allow maintenance people locate problems in a building and also provide a way to do things like lowering shades automatically during certain parts of the day or turning off signs to save energy. It is all a start. The router has hardware and software limitations. It can only run on Linux for example.

But Cisco says that it is to begin slotting standard x86 chips into its routers and to open AXP to Microsoft’s Windows.
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