A smart endpoint for I/O protocol acceleration, the smart endpoint comprising: a transaction layer configured to receive an I/O transaction originating from a root port of a computing device, wherein the smart endpoint is coupled to the root port, and wherein the smart endpoint is further coupled to an offload complex of the computing device; a protocol parser configured to (i) parse the I/O transaction based on an I/O protocol in response to receipt of the I/O transaction and (ii) identify an I/O command in response to parsing of the I/O transaction; and a protocol accelerator configured to (i) accelerate the I/O command and (ii) provide a smart context to the offload complex in response to acceleration of the I/O command, characterized to be configured: to parse the I/O transaction comprises to determine whether the I/O transaction is a doorbell notification; to identify the I/O command comprises to identify the I/O command in a host memory in response to a determination that the I/O transaction is a doorbell notification; and to accelerate the I/O command comprises to: read the I/O command from the host memory; copy the I/O command to a memory of the smart endpoint or a memory of the offload complex; identify protocol data in the host memory based on the I/O command; read the protocol data from the host memory; and copy the protocol data to the memory of the smart endpoint or the memory of the offload complex; wherein the smart context includes the I/O command, a pointer to a location of the I/O command, the protocol data and/or a pointer to a location of the protocol data. a transaction layer configured to receive an I/O transaction originating from a root port of a computing device, wherein the smart endpoint is coupled to the root port, and wherein the smart endpoint is further coupled to an offload complex of the computing device; a protocol parser configured to (i) parse the I/O transaction based on an I/O protocol in response to receipt of the I/O transaction and (ii) identify an I/O command in response to parsing of the I/O transaction; and a protocol accelerator configured to (i) accelerate the I/O command and (ii) provide a smart context to the offload complex in response to acceleration of the I/O command, characterized to be configured: to parse the I/O transaction comprises to determine whether the I/O transaction is a doorbell notification; to identify the I/O command comprises to identify the I/O command in a host memory in response to a determination that the I/O transaction is a doorbell notification; and to accelerate the I/O command comprises to: read the I/O command from the host memory; copy the I/O command to a memory of the smart endpoint or a memory of the offload complex; identify protocol data in the host memory based on the I/O command; read the protocol data from the host memory; and copy the protocol data to the memory of the smart endpoint or the memory of the offload complex; wherein the smart context includes the I/O command, a pointer to a location of the I/O command, the protocol data and/or a pointer to a location of the protocol data. to parse the I/O transaction comprises to determine whether the I/O transaction is a doorbell notification; to identify the I/O command comprises to identify the I/O command in a host memory in response to a determination that the I/O transaction is a doorbell notification; and to accelerate the I/O command comprises to: read the I/O command from the host memory; copy the I/O command to a memory of the smart endpoint or a memory of the offload complex; identify protocol data in the host memory based on the I/O command; read the protocol data from the host memory; and copy the protocol data to the memory of the smart endpoint or the memory of the offload complex; read the I/O command from the host memory; copy the I/O command to a memory of the smart endpoint or a memory of the offload complex; identify protocol data in the host memory based on the I/O command; read the protocol data from the host memory; and copy the protocol data to the memory of the smart endpoint or the memory of the offload complex; wherein the smart context includes the I/O command, a pointer to a location of the I/O command, the protocol data and/or a pointer to a location of the protocol data.