Not sure if it differs in the US but I'm a bit unsure why you're talking about "hiring" consultants?
Why not just invite in a bunch of VAR's, go through your needs and ask them to quote on a solution? And to echo others thoughts, manufacturers will obviously have an agenda, resellers will have an agenda (to sell you something just from a bit wider pool), and even the best meaning consultant will have a certain bias based off what they're familiar with (not to say it won't be a good solution, but you take the point). I wouldn't expect you to have to be paying anyone a bean to get some detailed options. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin