It's not that much more expensive to have a very large mainframe than it is to have a smaller mainframe. And it's not difficult at all to see that three or four mainframe computers can do the job more efficiently than 12 or 13 mainframes. So I think consolidation, at least from the conceptual point of view, makes a great deal of sense. The other parts of that have to do with the standardization of the Federal Reserve product. All of the Federal Reserve Banks are interested in continuing to tailor services to meet the needs of their own depository institutions.
Standardization can take place, however, one step back from that.
The depository institution itself probably would not even know where the mainframe resides, nor would it care, as long as it's getting services that it's asking for. The main contact for depository institutions in a consolidated world, we think, will continue to be their local Federal Reserve Bank. A substantial part of the real savings are derived from development of standard software. Some development, of course, will very likely continue at each bank, but the major development staffs will be concentrated in a smaller number of locations, which should enable the Federal Reserve to save considerably in staff resources. I personally believe that the quality of services at the Federal Reserve can be made much better by consolidation, but there is a debate in the System.