TOE

Short for TCP/IP Offload Engine, TOE a technology used in NICs (network interface cards) to offload processing of the TCP/IP stack to the network controller. TOE works because it allows the operating system to offload all TCP/IP traffic to hardware on the NIC, and also gives TCP/IP control to the host server. TOE is mainly used in high-speed networks such as gigabit or 10GB Ethernet.