The Intel Data-Direct-I/O technology is a platform technology designed to improve the efficiency of I/O data processing for the provisioning and utilization of I/O devices. With Intel Data-Direct-I/O technology, Intel server adapters communicate directly with the processor cache without routing through system memory, reducing latency, increasing the system's I/O bandwidth, and lowering power consumption.

Single-root I/O virtualization involves the native (direct) sharing of a single I/O resource among multiple virtual machines. Single-root I/O virtualization provides a mechanism by which a single root function (for example, a single Ethernet port) can be represented as multiple separate physical devices.

The flexible port partitioning technology utilizes the industry-standard PCI SIG SR-IOV to efficiently divide the physical Ethernet device into multiple virtual devices and offers quality of service by ensuring that each process is assigned to a virtual function and receives an appropriate share of the bandwidth.