Hardware load balancing provides a service solution geared toward operating computer network communication with optimal performance. This is achieved through several devices, such as routers, switches and/or computing servers, in certain cases.

Typically, hardware load balancing relies on the capabilities of a hardware device and its internal architecture for network load balancing services. These capabilities may include a specialized network operating system (OS), firmware or a powerful processor that can perform rapid network path computations and support for most network mediums and associated ports. Such a device also directly connects with a host network or Web server(s) and can quickly adapt to and provide failover capabilities.