Method and device for improving bandwidth utilization in a communication network

A communication system comprising at least one smart network interface card (“NIC”) provided with a logic/programmable processor and a local memory, and a computing element, wherein a communication bus is used to connect said smart NIC and said computing element to enable forwarding data there-between,

• wherein said system is characterized in that said smart NIC is configured to receive a data packet to extract metadata therefrom, wherein said metadata resides within said data packet header and/or at one or more specific locations within the data packet payload, place the extracted metadata into a descriptors MetaPacket structure, and forward the descriptors MetaPacket structure, to said computing element along said communication bus, thereby forwarding less than all of said data packet to said computing element;
• and
• wherein said system is further characterized in that the computing element is configured to process said descriptors MetaPacket structure and to return the processed descriptors MetaPacket structure to the smart NIC.