I don't know Gromph, but I have a feeling whichever sysadmin stepped into the role would be hamstrung so I can't even hate there. I maintain some dying systems that have been obsolete for at least a decade but the owners nocurr cause I keep the thing ticking over. :/
EDIT: Actually, if Eviloogie is willing to spend cash on infrastructure then perhaps Gromph isnt the right person to have as he is obviously advising loogie on the way forward. Mayhaps he needs to open his wallet, get a data and systems architecture guy in for a week, have them design a solution and then have Gromph implement it to that spec.