[OSGeo-Discuss] Re: Comparison between MapServer/OpenLayers and ESRI ArcIMS

[Andrew Turner]

> On May 30, 2009, at 3:38 PM, "Randy George" <rkgeorge at cadmaps.com> wrote:
>
>> Cloud options are looking interesting.
>>
>> http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/  Windows, Linux, Solaris options
>>
>> I imagine ESRI license entanglement with virtual servers could be a
>> problem. But no problem at all with Open Source GIS stacks. No license to
>> get tangled with load balancing and auto scaling where servers come and go
>> as needed. Mostly I've seen small business interest since they tend to take
>> overhead costs more seriously.
>>
>> It might be useful to include a Cloud based server solution addendum,
>> because that would be less optimal for an ESRI vendor and could look good
>> compared to in-house hardware.

We found it much better to own our entire solution (GeoIQ) due to
this. It's built either with our own pieces, or open-source pieces -
so we can deploy it to cloud, appliances, whatever without concern for
ToU, licensing, etc. It's definitely a huge boon for us as a
'business'.

>>
>> Unfortunately, medium and large organizations seem to have budget
>> allocations already in place for the big ticket approach. But then in this
>> economy even that could be changing.

Yes, that is a questionably valid (and even provably invalid)
assumption. Big ticket items kick in all kinds of departmental, IT
team, budgetary, sustainability, etc. questions. They're looking for
easy entry items that maybe they can even slip into their
discretionary budgets without invoking too much beauracracy.

Andrew