https://f5.com/about-us/blog/articles/iseries-not-just-a-better-bigger-faster-big-ip-23134 In addition, an FPGA can respond to traffic with bounded latencies, ensuring that traffic can be handled appropriately and with a uniform performance level, even under load—unlike a CPU, where software performance can vary as other software vies for the same CPU resources. Specifically, when software is used to direct traffic and the CPU is under load, such as during a DDoS or SSL negotiation attack, the CPU and software responsiveness decreases, reducing the ability of the ADC to manage the attack. Conversely, when an FPGA directs traffic, it will respond predictably, regardless of the load on the CPU https://www.top500.org/news/microsoft-goes-all-in-for-fpgas-to-build-out-cloud-based-ai/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Cloud-Scale-Acceleration-Architecture.pdf https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/HC26.12.520-Recon-Fabric-P