1. A system comprising: a server computing device comprising: one or more generalized central processing units; a first network interface communicationally coupling the server computing device to a network as a first node of the network; a local hardware accelerator that is logically separate from the server computing device and which is communicationally coupled to the network as a third node of the network, different from the first node; and one or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more generalized central processing units, cause the server computing device to: receive a request for a portion of a workflow to be performed by a hardware accelerator, the workflow being executed by the one or more generalized central processing units of the server computing device; selecting either the local hardware accelerator or one or more external hardware accelerators to which to direct the portion of the workflow based at least on pre-configured capabilities of the local hardware accelerator or the external hardware accelerators; packetizing the portion of the workflow; and transmitting the packetized portion of the workflow to the selected hardware accelerator; and a first external hardware accelerator that is physically and logically separate from any server computing device of the system, the first external hardware accelerator comprising: processing circuitry pre-configured to perform a discrete set of computing operations more efficiently than the one or more generalized central processing units; and network transport circuitry communicationally coupling the first external hardware accelerator to the network as a second node of the network, the second node being different and independent of the first node; wherein the transmitting the packetized portion of the workflow to the selected hardware accelerator comprises: placing the packetized portion of the workflow in a shared memory of the server computing device if the selected hardware accelerator is the local hardware accelerator and transmitting the packetized portion of the workflow to the selected hardware accelerator through the first network interface if the selected hardware accelerator is the first external hardware accelerator.