White RoomNEW

Forty Milliseconds Exactly

An RPC client on an established, idle connection issues two write() calls per request: 4 bytes of length prefix, then a 96 byte body. The server parses the length, reads the body, and only then replies.

Measured client-side latency over an hour on a 0.4 ms LAN:

percentile latency
p50 0.4 ms
p90 0.4 ms
p99 40.1 ms
p99.9 40.2 ms

There are zero retransmissions in the capture and zero packet loss on the switch counters. What produces the 40 ms cliff?