1. An I/O controller, comprising: a plurality of I/O ports for coupling to external devices and transceiving data and control information between said I/O controller and external devices; a plurality of function control cores, each respectively associated with and coupled to one of said plurality of I/O ports, each function control core transceiving control information received at a respective one of said I/O ports and said I/O controller; a data buffer manager for transceiving data among said I/O ports and a buffer memory; a data bus for communicating only data, coupled to said plurality of I/O ports and said data buffer manager; a control processor, for processing control information; a control bus, for communicating only control information among said plurality of function control cores and said control processor.