Method and system for processing network data

A method for network communication, comprising:

• a network adapter coupled to a host computing system processing network traffic by executing a network protocol;
• an application having its own context in the host computing system initializing a socket call when the application wants to establish a network connection by directly placing the socket call via its own specific interface module and without using an operating system that runs on the host computing system;
• the network adapter establishing the network connection and interfacing with the application directly through the application specific interface module;
• sending a socket descriptor to the network adapter that identifies plural parameters for the network connection;
• and
• the application designating a named buffer for the network connection, wherein data received by the network adapter for the network connection is transferred directly to the named buffer.

A host computing system coupled to a network for receiving and transferring network packets, comprising:

• a host processor that executes an operating system and at least one application that runs in a context that is different from a context of the operating system;
• and
• an interface module specific to the application;
• wherein a network adapter includes a hardware device for executing a network protocol stack for processing network traffic, and when the application wants to establish a network connection, the application directly places a call via its specific interface module and without using the operating system, the network adapter establishes the network connection and interfaces with the application directly through the application specific interface module, the application designates a named memory buffer for the network connection, and when data is received by the network adapter for the network connection, then the network adapter passes the received data directly to the designated named memory buffer.