Afaik, the Intel Network cards are more like dedicated CPUs, that can run various "programs", one of which is "standard, fully-transparent network card". If si

Afaik, the Intel Network cards are more like dedicated CPUs, that can run various "programs", one of which is "standard, fully-transparent network card". If signed with the right key, some can run entire stacks, such as iSCSI, FCoE and others. The Multiport ones can do switching, filtering, and some basic routing in hardware. The "other" operating system is totally unencumbered by this. This is routinely used by e.g. Intel AMT/ME, which programs the network card to reroute some destination ports to (in this case internal) recipients (the ME-processor). That feature is what makes out-of-band management possible for people having added the right keys to ME, or knowing one of the preinstalled ones. And as a HW-Vendor you never know; maybe your client might one day want to use these "offloading" features. Maybe he just doesn't know it yet... So when the good offer from Intel comes in, you go for it.