That real-time means fast.

Stating "The packets need to be processed in real-time." is worthless and the evil twin...answering "How fast does X need to happen ?" with "Real-time" is possibly less than worthless...bordering on stupid rather than ignorant.

Real-time means that, simply put, that function Y will always take X amount of time and that any deviation indicates a serious error. The duration of X does not define "real-time" it could be six microseconds or six days. That you can determine function Y will take X time defines "real-time". Real-time systems are deterministic by this definition.

So knock it off..