http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/...other-features
"PCI Passthrough, a new Linux only feature looks intriguing, but according to the docs, it seems to be at early stage with limited hardware support. The feature allows guest operating systems to directly access PCI and PCI Express hardware, even in cases in which the hardware is not supported by the host. This could offer benefits in two main areas: Firstly, it offers the potential to greatly improve the performance of hardware such as network adaptors when accessed from within a VM. Secondly, it would allow Linux to use hardware (albeit via a VM) that either has no, or only limited, Linux driver support.[...]"
That sounds pretty helpful.
