S) 194 NETWORK PROCESSORS If a smaller chunk of data needs to be retrieved, an entire block that contains the desired pieces will still need to be read. Of course there are reasons as to why this is so, and along with the reasons there are obvious penalties in efficiency and speed. We will not elaborate on this subject. The refer- ences listed at the end of the chapter provide interested readers with more than ample documentation on any aspect of the storage technology and industry. In this discussion, we will ignore the small- capacity storage units that are found in small desktop computers such as PCs and workstations. For all practical purposes, these devices are connected directly on the PC or workstation bus and qualify as DAS devices. An explosion in demand for storage capacity occurred as result of the exponential growth in online transaction processing (OLTP) during the 1990s, the need for flexible and wide-scale information access by employees and outside partners of a company or members of an organization, as well as the ever-increasing need to service requests for audio, video, and text/graphics files out of servers in sev- eral organizations. Organizations and enterprises must continue to revisit their approach to managing stored data in order to support several strategic organizational goals. Storage media must be easily accessible, reliably available around the clock, and scalable. With these characteristics, organizations can function with continuity around the clock and continuously improve their staff's efficiency and productivity (by granting them easy access to data they need, when they need it, and wherever they need it). Data must be SO stored that it is straightforward to service, upgrade, and expand the organi- zation's data storage infrastructure without disruption. Two major technologies have appeared in the market over the last few years to address these trends: Network attached storage (NAS) EMC Corp., a leading industry player, has already qualified NAS as "suitable only for a small se