This sort of what virtual networking devices are trying to solve, no? Going to a full on box also increases your attack surface by adding a lot of unnecessary

This sort of what virtual networking devices are trying to solve, no? Going to a full on box also increases your attack surface by adding a lot of unnecessary stuff. Plus even with something completely in software you still need the physical hardware in there at some point - and those individual pieces will be running their own firmware and microcontroller software.