bridge mib revision

I am currently updating the BRIDGE-MIB to make it ready for last call.
There is one addition which I do not understand and where I need your
help. The following text got added to the description clause of the
dot1dStaticAllowedToGoTo object:

        This exceeds the minimum required SNMP packet size
	supported.  This is sufficient to allow the maximum
	4096 ports now supported.

dot1dStaticAllowedToGoTo is an OCTET STRING (SIZE (0..512)), so 4096
ports fit into 512 bytes. Can someone explain to me what this paragraph
is trying to convey to the reader?

/js

-- 
Juergen Schoenwaelder		    International University Bremen
<http://www.eecs.iu-bremen.de/>	    P.O. Box 750 561, 28725 Bremen, Germany