1. An apparatus for handling first and second digital electronic flows, wherein the first flow comprises a plurality of first datagrams, wherein the first datagrams include datagram header information and datagram payload information, wherein at least one of the first datagrams contains application layer payload information, wherein the second flow comprises a plurality of second datagrams, wherein the second datagrams include datagram header information and datagram payload information, and wherein at least one of the second datagrams contains application layer payload information, the apparatus comprising: a network interface through which at least some of the first datagrams and at least some of the second datagrams pass; and a plurality of processing components upon which a flow identification and classification subsystem is hosted, wherein the plurality of processing components inspects at least some of the first datagrams and based at least in part on datagram header information and application layer payload information of the first datagrams causes a first flow policy to be applied to the first flow such that at least some of the first datagrams of the first flow take a first path through the plurality of processing components of the apparatus, and wherein the flow identification and classification subsystem inspects at least some of the second datagrams and based on at least in part on datagram header information and application layer payload information of the second datagrams causes a second flow policy to be applied to the second flow such that at least some of the second datagrams of the second flow take a second path through the plurality of processing components of the apparatus, wherein the network interface and the plurality of processing components together comprise a special purpose processor subsystem, the apparatus further comprising: a general purpose processor subsystem that hosts a general purpose operating system, wherein an application layer program executes on the general purpose processor subsystem, wherein a flow policy causes a copy of a flow to be communicated from the special purpose processor subsystem to the application layer program.