From: Richard Sims [mailto:rbs AT BU DOT EDU] 
> Mark - I wonder if that traditional distinction will prevail 
> in the near future.  Network evolution has been accelerating, 
> largely driven by such storage needs, and so I think the 
> disparity between bus and wire will tend to lessen, and to 
> perhaps conceptually merge into a single amalgam of "Device 
> Access Pathing".  Parallel pathing is becoming rather passe, 
> with serial pathing coming to the fore with the speed made 
> possible by its simplicity in not having to wait for the last 
> horse to pass the finish line before declaring unit data 
> arrival.  Generalized networking will always entail more 
> overhead in its packetizing, but I think we'll see an 
> increasing number of network-based storage units with very 
> acceptable performance as 10GB and higher speed networking 
> arrangements arrive.

Good question. We'll have to see a 10- or 100-fold increase in SAN (and
fiber-based Ethernet) speeds before we see an approach to bus-level
speeds, as well as work-arounds for the inherent lag that comes with the
speed of light (as you mentioned above).

>   Richard Sims, BU    at home, under 2' of latest snow arrival

Our Wisconsin winter's been dry and brown this year. Cold enough,
though.

--
Mark Stapleton (mark.stapleton AT berbee DOT com) 

>