>I understand what your saying, but the NT box is dedicated to this. It's sole purpose is to be a central repository for disparate data. DCOM is another route that may work allowing us to message the box so to speak to perform various tasks. Do you know any good articles on creating DCOM components?

Creating DCOM components is exactly like creating COM components. It becomes a DCOM component when it is deployed remotely. You configure DCOM servers using DCOMCNFG.exe- have a look, it might clear some things up for you. The additional issues to be concerned with are mostly security related, and getting NT rights worked out. I don't know of an online article that details this off the top of my head.