A router is configured for routing, via an open protocol network, a received message to a destination node based on parsing an XML portion within the received message. The router includes an XML parser configured for parsing XML tags specifying prescribed attributes, and an application resource configured for interpreting the prescribed attributes for a determined service based on runtime execution of the application resource. In particular, the runtime execution of the application resource provides application-specific syntax and semantics enabling interpretation of the parsed XML tags. The application resource, in response to interpreting the prescribed attributes, initiates selected application operations, including outputting the received message to a prescribed destination, based on the execution of the prescribed application operations.