I work for a retail company, alot of software is now selling with an activation bar code similar to what prepaid cell phones use. I can see that becoming the next way to stop pirates.
In a server setup more cores is always better. the concept is the same as a multi-cpu setup (but not the same at the same time..) the Xenon line based on the i7 would be great for a server, or a six core AM2 CPU could give good results as well. if your starting from scratch you can build a six...