A networked system in which the majority of data bypass the server (101) to improve end-to-end performance of network access by achieving higher throughput between the network (130) and storage system (110). The apparatus consists of a network interface (120), server computer interface (240), and storage interface (250) and a switching element (201) and a high-layer protocol decoding and control unit (205). Incoming traffic is decoded and compared against a routing table. If there is a matching entry, it will be routed to the storage interface or sent to the server for further processing by default. The routing table entries are set up based on the initial nature of the applications. Subsequently, barring any changes or errors, there will be no data exchange between the server and the device. There may also be a speed matching funcion between the network and storage, load balancing function for servers, and flow control for priority and QOS purposes.
