Hi Peter

Cuelists within catalyst are ideal for scheduled events. Coupled with apple scripts, it is possible to automate any number of control solutions from the Mac.

Monitoring is possible with remote desktop or Hardware monitor software. The network version of 'hardware monitor' can tell you information about the mac itself remotely.

However, Catalyst also has a web-server built in, which can display certain status information as well as provide level of control and remote control of the Catalyst server itself.

A centralised location makes it easy to provide simple backup solutions with multiple servers - Although, signal distribution should be considered.

Do let me know if you have any specific considerations and i may be able to advise further

Regards

Simon