The invention provides a method and system in which a client/server system uses a NUMA communication link, possibly in combination with a byte serial communication link, to transfer relatively large blocks of data between client and server. The method and system provides for transferring data between the client and server, in which timing for the actual data transfer is decoupled from a request (from the client) or a response (from the server). The method and system also provides for transferring data from either party to the other at mutually agreed locations, such as locations responsive to control information present in either the request or the response. Accordingly, either party can transfer data to the other at a location convenient to both the sender and the recipient, and either party can process data in any order it prefers, without regard for the order in which data is stored at the other party.