A packet processing system for providing application-aware hot redundancy and a related card and methods are disclosed. The system may include a plurality of active devices, each including a processor configured to perform deep packet inspection to identify an application associated with an active flow, and a redundancy block configured to determine whether the application requires hot redundancy and, if so, to forward a message from which state information may be derived. The system may also include at least one protecting device in communication with each of the active devices and configured to receive the message regarding the active flow from the active device, derive state information from the message, and resume packet forwarding operations for the active flow upon failure of a respective active device of the plurality of active devices.