Predictably, networking bandwidth doesn’t exist with the controller locked in a vacuum. The role and capabilities of surrounding components can be critical. This is why Intel optimizes its latest enterprise processors to accelerate the processing of network packets. The move from Intel Quick Data (Xeon 5500) to having an integrated memory controller (Xeon 5600) gave networking throughput a greater than 150% boost. Now, with Intel Data Direct I/O, eliminating memory and the northbridge from the packet processing equation yields over 200 Gb/s of throughput.