From: Richard Sims [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > 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 ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) >