Apparatus, system, and method for transparent ethernet link pairing

A system for reducing latency comprising:

• a first Open Systems Adapter (OSA) comprising one processor, a first port, and a first network interface card (NIC), the first OSA supporting bidirectional Ethernet communication, wherein the first OSA is optimized for inbound data communications using interrupt optimization;
• a second Open Systems Adapter (OSA) comprising one processor, a second port, and a second network interface card (NIC), the second OSA supporting bidirectional Ethernet communication, wherein the second OSA is optimized for outbound data communications using interrupt optimization;
• a dual module configured to represent the first OSA and the second OSA as a single logical interface to a host and to one or more devices communicating data with the host over a bidirectional Ethernet connection;
• an inbound module configured to direct inbound data sent to the host by one or more devices over the network exclusively through the first OSA;
• and
• an outbound module configured to intercept outbound data sent by the host to one or more devices on the network through the first OSA and to direct the outbound data exclusively through the second OSA.

A method for reducing latency in communications over a network comprising:

• representing a first network adapter and a second network adapter as a single logical interface to a host comprising the first network adapter and the second network adapter;
• wherein the first network adapter comprises a port, a network interface card (NIC), and only one central processing unit (CPU), and wherein the second network adapter comprises a port, a NIC, and only one CPU;
• directing inbound data packets originating on the network and addressed to the host exclusively through the first network adapter such that no inbound data packets pass through the second network adapter;
• and
• intercepting outbound data packets sent by the host to the first network adapter prior to the outbound data packets reaching the first network adapter and directing the outbound data packets exclusively through the second network adapter such that no outbound data packets pass through the first network adapter, the inbound data originating with the host and addressed to one or more devices on the network.