Scaling efficiency for internal transport services in distributed network elements

A network device comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory storing instructions which when executed by the at least one processor, causes the network device to:
• establish a single namespace within a Network Stack Instance;
• establish a first socket interface associated with the single namespace for a first application, the first socket interface having a first table identifier that correlates the first application with a first network segment, and the first socket interface establishing a first connection between the Network Stack Instance and a Forwarding Plane;
• and
• establish a second socket interface associated with the single namespace for a second application, the second socket interface having a second table identifier that correlates the second application with a second network segment, and the second socket interface establishing a second connection between the Network Stack Instance and the Forwarding Plane.