Cisco today took the wraps off its much-anticipated Application Oriented Networking program. Making the debut at its Networkers conference in Las Vegas, the AON technology is being viewed by the company as one its most significant technology introductions since the company launched it Avvid platform for voice over IP several years ago.

At the heart of AON is a new approach to networking that greatly increases the amount of intelligence used and breaks down the barriers to communications between disparate applications. Charlie Giancarlo, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Cisco, said in a press conference at Networkers that the development was a recognition that creating connectivity doesn’t necessarily mean all parts of enterprise IT departments are aligned.

“The business needs to be able to respond to the various demands on it,” he said, noting that in many cases, IT departments are measured on network uptime but not on their flexibility.

Citing Cisco’s relationship with AT&T, Giancarlo noted that the company has seven different internal systems that interact with the carrier.

“If we make a change to one of our back-end systems, we can’t make that change without forcing a change on our customer, AT&T,” he said.

AON technology initially will take the shape in the product form of modules for data center switches and for branch office routers. Later in the year, the company expects to have an AON-enabled network appliance.

One key element to the new technology is that it doesn’t require significant changes to the network footprint or applications. Instead, it will allow users to translate between different protocols used by applications to create a more collaborative environment.

“At the end of the day, you have to take a broader view of what’s happening across your company and what’s happening across your supply chain,” said Taf Anthias, vice president and general manager of Cisco’s application-oriented networking business unit.