Hi Che,
If the ESR can be accessed using NWDS in a dual stack installation is it of any benefit?
I haven't clear that you can use NWDS to develop ESR objects in dual installation, i have read threads with problems about this, may be from any SP is solved.
With an eclipse tool like NWDS you can work without the problems of to run the swing tools, for example you have several PI versions, you can install several NWDS for each version. IMO in general, we can say that this a second way to develop your integrations with a standard IDE like eclipse where you java developments are easier to be developed.
On the other side, you can do a third tools for example to activate or deactivate channels with the Directory API.
Regards.