Drew, the thing that confuses me about sites like the one you describe - which I know are perfectly common - is how they manage the licensing - both logistically, and the cost!

My SQL Server is heavyweight piece of hardware - 128 GB memory, 8x2 core, multi-channel io, Equalogics array - with multiple instances on it and most database packed into a single instance (we add multiple instances only when a 3rd party product has unreasonable demands like "must have server adm" or "keeps flushing the whole datacache").

The was MS licenses, that keeps the license cost low. Splitting that across 4 2x2 core machines would be twice the cost. Unless your virtual 2003 servers are all on one box - I sense they aren't - doesn't that waste a lot of licensing money?

That's what I never understand about sites that don't have this consolidated. We have a strong culture of centralization and consolidation, and we were doing client/server databases long before MS took over the Windows port of Sybase SQL Server, so we never fell into that "SQL Servers everywhere", but I know it's a real common issue.