Abstract: A fast path (comprising control and data busses) directly connects between a storage element in a storage hierarchy and a requestor. The fast path (FP) is in parallel with the bus path normally provided through the storage hierarchy between the requestor and the storage element controller. The fast path may bypass intermediate levels in the storage hierarchy. The fast path is used at least for fetch requests from the requestor, since fetch requests have been found to comprise the majority of all storage access requests. System efficiency is significantly increased by using at least one fast path in a system to decrease the peak loads on the normal path. A requestor using the fast path makes each fetch request simultaneously to the fast path and to the normal path in a system controller element (SCE). The request through the fast path gets to the storage element before the same request through the SCE, but may be ignored by the storage element if it is busy.