1. A system comprising: a protocol interface module disposed in a communication path between an external host and an external storage device and adapted to encapsulate data received from the external host in a first streaming protocol into a second streaming protocol, the protocol interface module having a field extraction engine and a packet classifier, wherein the field extraction engine is operable to inspect a frame received in the first streaming protocol and determine a type of action for the received data, and wherein the packet classifier is operable to insert a frame type code corresponding to the determined type of action into a header field of a frame of the second streaming protocol encapsulating at least a portion of the received data; and a storage processor disposed in the communication path between the external host and the external storage device and adapted to direct data received from the protocol interface module in the second streaming protocol to the storage device, the storage processor having a classifier, one or more protocol processor, and one or more general purpose processor, wherein the classifier is operable to read the frame type code in the header field of the frame of the second streaming protocol and assign the frame to a protocol processor of the one or more protocol processor or a general purpose processor of the one or more general purpose processor based upon the frame type code.