A second chip alongside the Central Processing Unit, which can perform specialised calculations to take some of the load off the CPU and therefore speed up the computer. The Maths or `Floating Point' Co-Processor is particularly important, though its function tends to be integrated into modern microprocessors.
Semiconductor chip that coordinates and controls the operation of a microprocessor.
A processor that resides on an array that relieves the host CPU from executing processor-intensive operations such as RAID 5 parity calculations and secondary RAID 1 writes.
Any computer processor which assists the main processor (the "CPU") by performing certain special functions, usually much faster than the main processor could perform them in software. The coprocessor often decodes instructions in parallel with the main processor and executes only those instructions intended for it.