Preserving the order of packets through a device

A device, comprising:

• at least one bandwidth divider, where each of the least one bandwidth divider is to:
• receive an incoming packet stream,
• divide packets, included in the received incoming packet stream, where the at least one bandwidth divider, when dividing the packets, is further to:
• determine dispatch times for each of the packets, and
• schedule the packets for transmission, from the at least one bandwidth divider, at the corresponding dispatch times;
• and
• a plurality of processors, where each of the plurality of processors is to:
• receive respective packets from the at least one bandwidth divider,
• process the packets to determine routing information for the packets.

A method, comprising:

• receiving, by a network device, at least one incoming packet stream;
• and
• determining, by the network device, a dispatch time for each of packets included in the received at least one incoming packet stream, and
• distributing, by the network device and at the corresponding dispatch times, the packets to two or more packet processors included in the network device.

A non-transitory computer readable medium to store instructions that are executable on a processor of a network device, the instructions including:

• one or more instructions to receive at least one packet stream;
• and
• one or more instructions to distribute packets, included in the received at least one incoming packet stream, to a plurality of packet processors,
• where the one or more instructions to distribute the packets include:
• one or more instructions to distribute the packets to the plurality of packet processors according to a load balancing scheme.