Nowadays there is a big push in the area of network storage. Why have data distributed all over your network, local to machines when you can centralize it for better universal access and protection. A big current trend and buzzword is the "SAN" or Storage Area Network. I have helped with an attempt to centralize resources by putting together a CD jukebox rather than circulate frequently used CDs to all the workstations. There are lots of SAN devices out there which are basically black boxes with lots of hard drive space (in reality some minimal OS and a SCSI card - sometimes running Linux). So, what would be a better complement than a Network Floppy Drive?
Value and Convenience
You can save hundreds of dollars by not bothering to have floppy drives on all machines, and centralize your archive of floppy disks in one place. Take your average 3.5" drive (OK perhaps a high end one, but still a COTS part), a network card and some circuitry, and voila! a floppy drive that can be accessed from anywhere on the network. Have a new Ethernet driver to install? Just walk down the hall to the machine room where you keep all your Network Floppy Drives, pop it in, walk back to your computer and download your Ethernet driver to your local computer. You'll have network access in no time! And you don't have to keep track of a pesky floppy. In the future, motherboard manufacturers could save money by not included the FDD header and support.
Technology
Most places that would be looking for such cutting edge technology would probably want to avoid any legacy technology like 10BaseT, so don't bother with the slow network cards. Probably 1000BaseT and ATM, or maybe FDDI for most consumers and perhaps a value line with 100BaseT cards. That way the network won't be a bottleneck for data transfer from floppy to host. Price could probably be kept in 3 figure range, certainly for the value line.
The Future
This is only the beginning of the technology road map for the Network Floppy Drive. The technology already exists today to build a jukebox similar to a tape archival system. Hundreds of floppies with dozens of drives could be used to save money and space by not requiring one drive per floppy stored. Of course, bandwidth would be an issue, but stuff enough network cards in and you're still only talking prices in the tens of thousands.
Conclusion
Will all that value and convenience, it makes complete sense to purchase a Network Floppy Drive for every floppy used by more than one person, more than one time. Get yours today!