In one embodiment, an external multi-host system includes an external peripheral component bus (PCB) cable terminated with a first and second PCB connector plug, a first network host including a first processor and a first PCB connector receptacle to receive the first PCB connector plug, and a second network host including a second processor and a multi-host network interface card, which includes a network connector receptacle to receive a first network connector plug terminating a network cable, a second PCB connector receptacle to provide connectivity with the first network host and to receive the second PCB connector plug, a first PCB edge-connector to provide connectivity with the second processor, and processing circuitry to operate communication with the first network host over the external PCB cable and with the second processor via the first PCB edge-connector, and exchange network packets between the network hosts and a network.