Cisco and Juniper this week both hit upon the same bright idea: to open their router operating systems to third-party developers.

In the past, what the vendors created was what you got; by opening up development, more specialized applications can be created and more industry-specific services can be delivered.

It's a recognition that not all innovation has to come from the vendor, and that the availability of third-party applications might actually be good for the operating system vendor as well as the industry as a whole.

It has certainly taken a long time for the idea to get to this point, especially for Cisco. But as Cisco becomes a software company, perhaps this kind of thinking is finally starting to take hold, with the repercussions of a software focus becoming clearer. Last week the company reorganized its technology development organization around key areas, and among those was software.

Cisco announced its plans to open IOS at its C-Scape conference in San Jose, as reported by my colleague Jim Duffy. He writes that Cisco plans to create IOS components, to dynamically link IOS services and to move the software to a Unix-based kernel. As that happens, Cisco also plans to make IOS interfaces available to developers at other companies.

Juniper on Monday announced what it calls the Partner Solution Development Platform, or PSDP, to open its JUNOS operating system to third-party developers via a software development kit - available through an annual licensing program.

Jeff Caruso is site editor at Network World.