A data processing device is provided that includes a plurality of hardware data processing nodes, wherein each hardware data processing node performs a task, and a hardware thread scheduler including a plurality of hardware task schedulers configured to control execution of a respective task on a respective hardware data processing node of the plurality of hardware data processing nodes, and a proxy hardware task scheduler coupled to a data processing node external to the data processing device, wherein the proxy hardware task scheduler is configured to control execution of a task by the external data processing device, wherein the hardware thread scheduler is configurable to execute a thread of tasks, the tasks including the task controlled by the proxy hardware task scheduler and a first task controlled by a first hardware task scheduler of the plurality of hardware task sched