A system includes a bus, a processor operably coupled to the bus, a memory operably coupled to the bus, a plurality of input/output (I/O) devices operably coupled to the bus, where each of the I/O devices has a set of control registers, and a first shared I/O unit operably coupled to the bus. The first shared I/O unit has a plurality of shared functions and is configured to perform the shared functions, where the shared I/O functions are not included as functions on the I/O devices and the I/O devices and the processor interact with the first shared I/O unit to use one or more of the shared functions performed by the first shared I/O unit.