Data processing system having a hardware acceleration plane and a software plane

A method for performing a service in a data processing environment comprising plural host components coupled to plural hardware acceleration components, the method comprising:

• in a local host component or in a local hardware acceleration component that is coupled to the local host component:
• issuing a request for the service;
• and
• receiving a reply to the request which identifies an address of a specific hardware acceleration component that is configured to perform the service;
• and
• in the local hardware acceleration component:
• when the address identifies the local hardware acceleration component as the specific hardware acceleration component that is configured to perform the service:
• locally performing the service on the local hardware acceleration component using parallel logic elements of the local hardware acceleration component, and
• outputting, over a common network, intermediate or final results that are responsive to the request to a remote hardware acceleration component without involvement of the local host component;
• and
• when the address identifies the remote hardware acceleration component as the specific hardware acceleration component that is configured to perform the service, routing the request to the remote hardware acceleration component, the remote hardware acceleration component using other parallel logic elements to output the intermediate or final results that are responsive to request to the local hardware acceleration component,
• wherein the plural host components have respective processing units configured to execute instructions,
• wherein the plural host components communicate with each other in the data processing environment over the common network, and
• wherein the plural hardware acceleration components communicate with each other in the data processing environment over the common network.

A server unit component comprising:

• a local host component that uses one or more central processing units to execute machine-readable instructions;
• a local hardware acceleration component having parallel logic elements;
• and
• a local physical link configured to couple the local host component with the local hardware acceleration component,
• the local hardware acceleration component being configured to couple to a common network and configured to serve as a conduit by which the local host component communicates with the common network in a data processing environment having respective other server unit components, the respective other server unit components comprising respective other host components and respective other hardware acceleration components with respective other parallel logic elements, the local host component, the local hardware acceleration component, the respective other host components, and the respective other hardware acceleration components being configured to perform various services,
• the local host component or the local hardware acceleration component being configured to determine an address of a specific hardware acceleration component that is configured to perform a requested service,
• the local hardware acceleration component being configured to:
• when the address identifies the local hardware acceleration component as the specific hardware acceleration component that is configured to perform the requested service, locally perform the requested service on the local hardware acceleration component, and
• when the address identifies another hardware acceleration component as the specific hardware acceleration component that is configured to perform the requested service, route the request to the another hardware acceleration component via the common network without involvement of the local host component,
• the local hardware acceleration component having parallel logic elements configured to perform computations to obtain intermediate results or final results of the requested service, and
• the local hardware acceleration component being configured to communicate the intermediate results or the final results of the requested service to a further hardware acceleration component over the common network without assistance from the local host component.