Is there a licensing reason that one can't get a Thunderbolt switch to connect a few close computers, laptops, and a NAS and be able to have a network? Even if one's not going for the full 40Gbit, just at least let me move files around on an emulated 10Gbit network card as Thunderbolt supports.

Does this just start to get too close to InfiniBand for Intel's liking?

Thunderbolt cables and adapters are (relatively) cheap and I find it a pity not seeing it used for these kinds of cases.