SHARED VIRTUAL NETWORK INTERFACE

A system includes one or more processing units coupled to a network interface unit. The network interface unit may include a network port for connection to a network and a virtual interface that may be configured to distribute an available communication bandwidth of the network port between the one or more processing units. The network port may include a shared media access control (MAC) unit. The virtual interface may include a plurality of processing unit resources each associated with a respective one of the one or more processing units. Each of the processing unit resources may include an I/O interface unit coupled to a respective one of the one or more processing units via an I/O interconnect, and an independent programmable virtual MAC unit that is programmably configured by the respective one of the one or more processing units. The virtual interface may also include a receive datapath and a transmit datapath that are coupled between and shared by the plurality of processing unit resources and the network port.