4 replies to this topic

[Tomi Maila]

This is a discussion topic to my latest article

Subversion hosting - a simple path to LabVIEW source code control

Tomi

[TobyD]

Thanks Tomi. You always have some good tips in your articles. I am still nervous about the idea of storing any company confidential intellectual property on third party servers though. I know a lot of companies (including the one I work for) have starting renting storage space because it's cheaper than having their own IT department manage it (or they have no more physical space in their server rooms), but it makes me nervous.

[Tomi Maila]

Toby, that is a good point. However you must also consider if your intellectual property is actually more safe on a managed third party server or on your own server where security issues are patched on a random basis.

[Jim Kring]

QUOTE (Tomi Maila @ Sep 17 2008, 09:34 AM)

Toby, that is a good point. However you must also consider if your intellectual property is actually more safe on a managed third party server or on your own server where security issues are patched on a random basis.

I agree with this sentiment, Tomi.

Hosting companies (more so with highly reputable ones) have a huge incentive to ensure the security of their customers' data -- it's the life-blood of their business. So, it's s something that they must continuously consider, test, and build into their process. I'm sure that service providers can do a much better job of security than most small- and medium-sized companies. However, large companies (with large IT departments) can probably do a good job of security, too. But, they typically tend to do this by severely crippling the usefulness and adaptability of the IT environment. For example, they make sure that your subversion server is secure by not providing you with (or letting you manage your own) subversion server

The good news is that the corporate world is starting to get more comfortable with the idea of software and IT resources as a service. Large companies just move slow and have large IT teams that need to hold onto their jobs.

[Tomi Maila]

I found a comparison chart on subversion hosting providers. Don’t read the chart literally, as most providers do have multiple products and not all products are listed. Rather take it as a list of subversion hosting providers aand check yourself what kind of solutions they provide. Not that many subversion hosting companies provide services for open source projects only.