For the compute-intensive work, why not just shell into a beefy box? We spent $3k on a 96M RAM 12core(+ht means 24 apparent cores) box that we run OpenStack on

For the compute-intensive work, why not just shell into a beefy box? We spent $3k on a 96M RAM 12core(+ht means 24 apparent cores) box that we run OpenStack on, with a big-ass SSD and 2 TB of spinny platters, and it's PHENOMENAL to use remotely :)