The other option, however, was to completely rework the company's estimating procedures, which were already well entwined with the Databuild application.

This was a complicated, expensive, and immensely undesirable option.

Facing the inevitable introduction of Windows, Lamont worked with PromoNet to design a long-term server strategy that would keep its costs as low as possible. They soon came to consider the merits of using Sun Microsystems' Sun Ray 1g thin clients on employee desktops which would let them access both the existing Solaris file-and-print services and the Windows-based Databuild server.

"We didn't want to say 'just give us the cheapest thing to do for now'," says Lamont. "We were interested in doing quality things to sustain growth that we were suspecting would happen. We were looking down the track considering how many terminals we were going to have to have, with all these people administering [Windows desktops]."

Databuild was implemented under Windows running on a Sun Microsystems Sun Fire V20z server, which uses dual-core, x86-compatible AMD Opteron processors offering both 32-bit and 64-bit operation - a fortuitous choice, Lamont says, that offered the promise of future-proofing consistent with the company's long-term vision. Sun Fire thin-client software was implemented on a two-way Sun Microsystems Sun Fire V210 server, which manages the interface between the eight Sun Ray 1g thin-client desktops and the Databuild Windows server.