Good point, network dependency is a valid concern. In practice these systems typically fetch data over a local, highly available network and aggressively cache

Good point, network dependency is a valid concern. In practice these systems typically fetch data over a local, highly available network and aggressively cache anything that gets read. If that network path becomes unavailable, it usually indicates a much larger infrastructure issue since many other parts of the system rely on the same storage or registry endpoints. So while it does introduce a different failure mode, in most production environments it ends up being a low practical risk compared to the startup latency improvements. For us and our customers, the trade off is worth it.