There is disclosed an apparatus for controlling a physical layer interface of a network interface card in real time. The apparatus comprises: 1) a first memory for storing a multitasking control program, the multitasking control program comprising a main routine and a plurality of subroutines callable by the main routine; 2) a second memory for storing a plurality of multitasking vectors associated with the multitasking control program; and 3) a microcontroller for executing the multitasking control program, wherein program execution control is transferred from the main routine to a first one of the plurality of subroutines when the first subroutine is called by the main routine and wherein the first subroutine, upon encountering a decision point in the first subroutine that is not yet capable of being decided, updates a first one of the plurality of multitasking vectors associated with the first subroutine with an address of the decision point and transfers program execution control back to the main routine.