klaussCPU added hardware registers that keep encryption counters and hashing state inside the processor between calls. That sounds like a small instruction-set feature. The useful deliverable is the board evidence around it: 35 new self-tests pass alongside the existing 27, old processor images still take the software path, and the emulator produces the same baseline results without the new hardware.
On the reported board, Advanced Encryption Standard counter mode rose from 6.4 to 15.5 megabytes per second on a 16-kibibyte buffer. Hashing reached 18.4 megabytes per second, and an encrypted web download improved from 286 to 331 kibibytes per second. The tests cover counter wraparound, partial blocks, interleaved hash contexts, fixed published vectors, and round trips from zero to 4,096 bytes. They also check that software resumes correctly after hardware processes a partial block.
The gap between a 2.4-times-faster encryption kernel and a 16 percent faster download is the point. Processor teams should publish both numbers, because the first proves the hardware block works and the second tells firmware engineers whether changing their integration is worth it. This test set gives the next optimization a baseline at both levels.