I said "by default", the implication being that you'd do something else if your application needs it. But it's much easier from an operational perspective if you start with a reliable system (replicated, networked storage) and cache locally for speed, then to try and make local filesystems reliable and durable.

I agree. Network-wise we start at 10GbE. It's a lot more complicated than simple file storage on network though. Many needs and solutions. And I mean MANY.