Packet processing including an ingress packet part distributor

A network device comprising:

• a port to receive ingress packets that include headers and payloads, wherein the header includes data stored in a plurality of fields according to a predefined format;
• an ASIC-based switch including an ingress packet part distributor to send different, potentially overlapping, parts of respective ones of the ingress packets for independent processing by different ones of a plurality of accelerators to produce results for the respective ones of the ingress packets, wherein the ingress packet part distributor sends the headers and the payloads as the parts of the ingress packets respectively to a first and a second of the plurality of accelerators, and wherein the ingress packet part distributor extends the headers with additional information that instructs the first of the plurality of accelerators where to store the results of its processing in a memory of the second of the plurality of accelerators;
• the first of the plurality of accelerators storing via RDMA the results of its processing in the memory as the headers of the egress packets, wherein the first of the plurality of accelerators sends messages to the second of the plurality of accelerators to trigger the forwarding of respective ones of the egress packets;
• and
• an egress packet controller to forward, based on the results generated by the different ones of the plurality of accelerators, egress packets out of the network device, wherein the payloads of the egress packets are based on the contents of the payloads of the ingress packets.