It seems to me even a passive patch cable is still managed - what happens if it breaks? I think the issue here is that it is a component of a network, and by definition it is managed by the associated NSA. (What that NSA needs to do - if anythng- to control or manage the patch cable is a separate issue. ) Also, often in this whole conflagration we find that one agent controls the port on one end of a link and another agent controls the port on the other end, and these two separate objects must *MUST* correspond to one another, ..so the configuration is negotiated via protocols and the link in-between simply reflects this agreed config. It is sort of moot who actually owns the resource, or "controls" it, as that agent simply has the priviledge of writing the negotiated configuration into the device...Freek, Some interesting questions, here are my thoughts your questions- Requirement 1: In my opinion each network resource should be owned by only one NSA. However, one NSA can own many resources. I guess this means that 'owned' and 'controlled' are synonymous. Though perhaps the distinction could be that a passive object (eg patchcord link) can only be owned and not managed?