1. A host machine for an electronic item management and archival system, the host machine comprising: a communications endpoint that receives items, each item including at least one of image data, audio data, and video data; a processor connected to the communications endpoint; and software executable by the processor, the software including instructions that create one or more virtual servers, the one or more virtual servers including at least one server that facilitates independent communication between multiple Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) applications and at least one server that creates and manages an archive.