You know, I have been suffering from unusual disk latency recently. I'm going to send someone into the DC to check for this. Not howling lunatics mind, other potential sources.
Dunno. I plan to use a use a network engineer with a mobile phone and have him walk around the datacentre putting his hands on things while I kick off batch jobs. Tho' now that you mention it, a metal ruler held in his teeth would probably be better.