Now that the storage train's here, can we get everybody on board?

The author presents some suggestions which would make the IEEE Mass Storage System Reference Model more responsive to large sites and enable mass storage services to be provided by a network of mass storage system (MSS) servers. Approaches that would simplify maintenance and growth are proposed with the understanding that an MSS entails more qualities than just 'big'. The Model's design should encourage the development of MSSs which permit sites to manage this data resource intelligently and continuously into the future. With this goal in mind, an MSS programmable interface is proposed, and attention is given to how sites could use it to add their own control and adjust to standards that change in ways that may not suit their environment. Plans to unite central and distributed servers, with the Model-based MSS Server as the focus of the complex, are also described. Many of these ideas are based on the observations of the author's own Central File Archival and Migration Service (CFAM), which has served Cray users since January 1989 and workstations since June 1991.<>