A method and apparatus for high-speed data path selection for network transfer using IP addresses is disclosed. The method may include configuring an IP address for a non-RDMA data transfer or an RDMA high speed data transfer. An application executing in an emulated environment may transfer data using the same function calls for both non-RDMA data transfer or an RDMA high speed data transfer. This reduces changes to the application to allow RDMA transfers. A non-emulated interface determines whether the IP address is flagged as an RDMA address. If so, the data is transferred via an RDMA data path. If the IP address is not flagged as an RDMA address, the data is transferred via a non-RDMA data path through a traditional network stack.