Many researchers are turning to SmartNIC offloads to improve the performance of high-performance networked systems. In this editorial, I discuss why SmartNICs are an especially powerful form factor for improving I/O intensive applications, and how their position in the dataplane enables them to take on central role in managing I/O. Rather than focusing on the benefits of individual offloads, this paper aims to explore the position of SmartNICs in the overall system integration of datacenter servers at the hardware and software level. I argue that SmartNICs should be viewed as 'data movement controllers' (NIC-DMCs) which are responsible for tasks involved in moving data between network, CPU, accelerators, and other endpoints: multiplexing/steering, interfacing between protocols, and enforcing I/O policies. I then enumerate open questions in how the hardware and software systems of the future will evolve to accommodate a dedicated NIC-DMC which is independent of the CPU complex.

许多研究人员正在转向 SmartNIC 卸载来提高高性能网络系统的性能。在这篇社论中，我讨论了为什么 SmartNIC 是一种特别强大的外形尺寸，可用于改进 I/O 密集型应用程序，以及它们在数据平面中的地位如何使其能够在管理 I/O 方面发挥核心作用。本文并不关注单个卸载的好处，而是旨在从硬件和软件层面探讨 SmartNIC 在数据中心服务器整体系统集成中的地位。我认为 SmartNIC 应被视为“数据移动控制器”(NIC-DMC)，它负责在网络、CPU、加速器和其他端点之间移动数据所涉及的任务：多路复用/引导、协议之间的接口以及强制 I/政策哦。然后，我列举了未来的硬件和软件系统将如何发展以适应独立于 CPU 复合体的专用 NIC-DMC 的开放问题。