Fiber-based distributed data center architecture

A device providing a broadband gateway at a premises, the device comprising:

• a gateway processor configured to provide access to the Internet to one or more devices at the premises via a fiber-based network by providing data packets from the fiber-based network to the one or more devices;
• a computing processor configured to process a portion of a distributed workload and communicate via the fiber-based network, wherein computing processors of multiple broadband gateways at multiple premises are configured to process the distributed workload;
• a multi-host network controller connecting the gateway processor and the computing processor to the fiber-based network;
• and
• a housing enclosing the gateway processor, the computing processor, and the network controller.

A method for providing network access and distributed workload processing using a fiber-based network, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a broadband gateway in a home, data packets from outside of the home via a fiber-based network, wherein the broadband gateway combines a gateway processor and a computing processor that share a single multi-host network controller connecting the broadband gateway to the fiber-based network;
• performing, at the gateway processor in the home, Network Address Translation (NAT) to send the data packets to one or more devices in the home;
• receiving, at the broadband gateway in the home, a request to process a portion of a distributed workload via the fiber-based network;
• processing, at the computing processor in the home, the portion of the distributed workload;
• and
• providing, from the broadband gateway in the home, a result of the processing via the fiber-based network.