Input/output completion port

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Input/Output Completion Port (IOCP) is an API for performing multiple simultaneous asynchronous input/output operations in Windows NT versions 4.0 and later. An input/output completion port object is created and associated with a number of sockets or file handles. When I/O services are requested on the object, completion is indicated by a message queued to the I/O completion port. A process requesting I/O services is not notified of completion of the I/O services, but instead checks the I/O completion port's message queue to determine the status of its I/O requests. The I/O completion port manages multiple threads and their concurrency.