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

[James Fee]

WeoGeo has FME Server running in the Amazon Cloud. Hopefully next week  
at the FME User Conference they'll release their benchmarks and see  
what it can do scaling up.

-
James Fee

Sent from my iPhone

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.
>
> 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.
>
> AWS now includes Load Balancing and Auto Scaling options as well as  
> S3 Backup, multiple offsite elastic block store duplication, edge  
> cache, and elastic IP.
> http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2009/05/17/monitoring-auto-scaling-elastic-load-balancing/
>
> And for the real bleeding edge http://aws.amazon.com/elasticmapreduce/
> (Not a selling point to small, medium, or large organizations,  
> unless academically oriented :-)
>
> rkgeorge
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org 
> ] On Behalf Of Jason Birch
> Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 5:49 PM
> To: OSGeo Discussions
> Subject: RE: [OSGeo-Discuss] Re: Comparision between MapServer/ 
> OpenLayers and ESRI ArcIMS
>
> I think that it's generally less fear of the unknown or job security  
> than it is the cost of adding complexity to what is often an already  
> over-extended support load.  In many cases it just makes sense to  
> spend $1000 for a server OS that doesn't require additional  
> training, is easy to get qualified techs for, and "just works" with  
> the existing systems.  It doesn't matter how easy Linux is; it's one  
> more thing to keep track of and one more thing to go wrong.
>
> If you want to "win" the open source battle at small organisations  
> that don't already have OS operating system tendencies, focus on the  
> application level where you can make a strong business case on a  
> feature-by-feature level, and with additional arguments about truly  
> open data being more sustainable and less risky.  Personally I think  
> that an "open source or bust" attitude is not very pragmatic.   
> "Sell" open source software where it is the best tool for the job,  
> but pick your battles.
>
> Jason
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alex Mandel
> Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 4:25 PM
> To: OSGeo Discussions
> Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Re: Comparision between MapServer/ 
> OpenLayers and ESRI ArcIMS
>
> That would be fear of the unknown(non gui) and job security at work.
> Wouldn't want someone else in the org who knows more about running  
> servers.
> Maybe you can get them to throw a bone to demo something on a  
> virtual machine hosted elsewhere(Amazon) just to show how easy it is.
>
> Welcome to the land of small to medium government agencies, etc.
> The best thing here is showing examples from equivalent groups, of  
> which there are plenty online now.
>
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