In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a first transport stack, a virtual network interface controller (VNIC), and a second transport stack. The first transport stack is associated with an Internetwork Operating System (IOS), as well as with a plurality of interface-based Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and a plurality of IP addresses. The VNIC is configured to dynamically provision the plurality of interface-based IP addresses and the plurality of IP addresses. The second transport stack is associated with a kernel, and configured to communicate with a first application. The MS is configured to enable the first application to share the plurality of IP addresses and the plurality if IP addresses with a plurality of applications.