An Ethernet storage protocol (ESP) enabled network is provided. The network includes a host computer having host interface circuitry for communicating data in an Ethernet network, and the host interface circuitry is configured to receive parallel data from the host computer provided in accordance with a peripheral device protocol, serialize the parallel data, and encapsulate the serialized parallel data into Ethernet frames for transmission over the Ethernet network. The network also includes a target having target interface circuitry for communicating data in the Ethernet network. The target interface circuitry is configured to receive the encapsulated serialized parallel data and reconstruct the serialized parallel data into the peripheral device protocol. The peripheral device protocol is one of a SCSI protocol, an ATAPI protocol, and a UDMA protocol. The data can be storage data, network data, file data, virtual interface data, or any other type of data that will benefit from high bandwidth transmission over a network.