Devices/distribution = chicken/egg?

Obviously, I/O devices and distribution (multiple vats) can be expressed using each other.
For various reasons I prefer to view devices as primitive, and implement distribution via stubs/scions (this is consistent with E paradigm).

What is not consistent with E paradigm, though, is that a vat ceases to be a single thread - it is a family of threads, namely one thread for (transactional) instances, and one thread for each device. I cannot understand the implications at the moment (mostly for robustness), but this is something to keep an eye on. OTOH, I can always bind this family to a single OS thread, which means I will match E perfectly, right? Must ensure this way of running vats is enforced, though.