P: Allow Catalog to be stored on a networked drive.

windows only though.

From a post above, there is a new solution on the market to replace LR that includes the network support we have been asking for since version 1. It is the Damion software mentioned above. Here is a snipet from their website.

The server-based photo management solution for small teams
There are many digital photo and media management software programs, but... they’re all for standalone use only;
There are many digital asset management solutions (DAM), but... they’re too expensive for small teams;
Daminion is a true multi-user media management system for small teams and creative professionals, at an affordable price.

Check them out at: http://daminion.net/

Non of my catalogs, previews, images, or XMP data, including my back up catalogs sit on my local machine.

I did post a solution (depending on your needs) a few days back which does work when connected to SAN storage, it still requires you to create a local catalog.

My local data resides on eSata based Raid 5 G tech drives.

I will have to look into this. Looks like it may be a LR replacement with the network support that Adobe refuses to add.

Yes, it is obvious that Adobe has once again decided to ignore their customers and only focus on the neat tools the designers want to work on instead of doing the real work to make the product better. The best way to voice a protest about ignoring customers is for the customers to refuse to buy the new junk that doesn't meet our needs. I can and will stick with LR4 until Adobe adds network catalog support or another company introduces a replacement product that includes this feature. Adobe has decided to risk losing customers to a competitor just to keep their programmers happy by allowing them to only work on pet projects and not address the lack of network support that has been pointed out over and over and over again!!!! NOT A SMART BUSINESS DECISION!!!!

@adobe
I had a look at the new features of LR5 and it looks cool. It's not too massive, so I expect it all to work fine. But why do you still ignore the simple fact that using the local machine as one and only storage for images is neither logic nor secure? There is still officially no support of network drives (though it works already with previous versions). But to make it worse, there is still no support for sharing a catalog. We are in 2013, people work together and you even have folks like me with more than one machine to develop images on. Reading thru the discussion, I'm not the only one. So why are you ignoring this feature constantly? SQLite is always given as the limiting factor. But if you folks are not able to implement a SQLite based solution that works properly, then simply change it. There are other ways to create a catalog and keep it consistent. It's not rocket science anymore, it's 2013.
Besides, I love LightRoom and use it daily. Just please add this little but important feature that is most likely useful for many (semi)professional users, not just me. Or just drop me a line if you need help defining a solution ;-)

Thanks!
Stefan

Indeed, it seems that that there is a market...

http://daminion.net/

Client-server solution, they call it the DAM for small teams. The client is free (at least the RC) and the server is between 210$ and 350$ per user depending on the number of users (perpetual license, 1 year support).

But it's a Windows only solution 😞

I refreshed my knowledge of Adobe's offering yesterday...

Adobe does have DAM capabilities through Drive, but only in a few selected products like Photoshop and Bridge and this does not include LR. Drive is only a connector to third-party DAM servers or CQ DAM (Experience Manager), Adobe's proprietary solution (formerly Day) that looks more like a CMS with check-in/check-out functionalities.

The marketing material is not utterly clear and there is no pricing information. It looks like an Enterprise system that is not meant for small teams and must cost quite a bit. It also looks like the same solution behind the Adobe Creative Cloud for teams.

Their Cloud solution looks interesting but only works for relatively small (or few) assets since checking-in/out RAW files over the Internet does not make much sense. Plus, it would not cover archiving as you are limited by the cloud storage space and we would still need to keep local archives.

Adobe seems more preoccupied by moving "to the cloud" and selling software as a service through subscription. It makes sense financially but does not cover all the needs. Let's hope LR will eventually support Drive and that we can connect Drive to an open source or relatively cheap solution...

That makes sense, given that all other Adobe CS apps have that integration. This also gives us check in/check out

Following the ideas on that thread, what we need it Adobe Drive integration with LR. That would open the door to much more powerful collaboration features...