Hi Eric, I was thinking about the reciprocal hosting idea as well as clustering at shared sites.
A simple network might start with "standardized" scopes - e.g. a particular SBIG camera, C14 or PlaneWave 20, Paramount or Astro-Physics mount, and so on. Agree that very-low-maintenance parts is key.
Was also thinking that system data like field-of-view of the instrument package might be helpful to know in advance during planning, so you could say "I'd like a 1 degree field for this object"; imaging parameters; limiting magnitude of the site at a particular filters passband; local light pollution; all the imaging / optical / location /wx parameters; that sort of thing.
Data quality is probably a big issue, and central hosting (or cloud-based) data storage and access also would make a ton of sense.
Am struggling with the financial picture a bit... need to think that through some more.