Just a day after Juniper announced the opening up of its JUNOS operating system, Cisco announced similar plans to open up is venerable IOS routing software to third-party developers. The move will be the foundation for its metamorphosis into a software company. Backed by a dedicated software group that was formed last week, Cisco officials are now tinkering with making IOS more than just a platform for Cisco-developed services in the network, reports Network World's Jim Duffy, who is at Cisco's C-Scape conference this week. Cisco plans to "componentize" IOS – developing only one implementation of a specific function instead of several, depending on the image – dynamically link IOS services and move the software onto a Unix-based kernel.

Cisco then plans to open up interfaces on IOS to allow third-party applications to access IOS services.

It appears that Cisco has flip-flopped on whether to open up its crown jewels for a while. Last year at Networkers, Cisco CEO John Chambers said the company needs to evolve its software strategy in order to alleviate customer confusion, foster choice, and not have software sales tightly coupled with hardware. This was interpreted as a plan to decouple IOS from hardware and sell it as separate packages. At Networkers 2007, Chambers said that was a misunderstanding. Its announcement at C-Scape is the boldest yet to secure Cisco a place in the software industry.

Earlier this week, Juniper announced a Partner Solution Development Platform (PSDP) allowing customers and partners to develop specialized applications on its JUNOS operating system.

How does Cisco opening up IOS affect your future Cisco buying decisions?

See also: Cisco's metamorphosis into a software company is not without challenges

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