I have a few more questions to help clarify your situation and then be able to help:
The database is getting huge in size due to expected data growth --> What is the current size of Data and Log portions at present ? How much growth in data occurs over what interval ?
The size of the database is making crucial tasks such as data backup take ages --> How long is 'ages' ? Minutes ? Hours ?
The size of the database means that archiving/house keeping needs to be done from time to time. --> This is normal for any database system that holds data historically.
Performance is slowly degrading. [b]--> What kind of optimizations are you running ? Update Statistics ? sp_recompile & sp_refreshview after Update Statistics ? Index Reorgs/Rebuilds ?[/b]
The data isn’t normalized and wouldn’t be worth the time and effort of normalization --> un-normalized data is a relational database's achilles heel. I really suggest some normalization.
The data is static, so once written to the database, is very unlikely to change. --> OK, partitioning may help.
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."