Patrick has made some excellent points. Having been on both sides of the
hosting table, I can say running your own web server is not an easy
matter. You can't just turn it on and start uploading images and forget
about it. Web servers are constantly under attack. Hardware can fail at
any time. You need to worry about backups, what to do if the power
fails, what to do if the network fails, what to do if the server gets
stolen, and so on. This says nothing of course of the cost of equipment,
power bandwidth or training. Plus you need a safe place to put the
servers.

While there is a lot to worry about if contracting with a third party,
you have plenty to deal with when you don't. 

My advice is follow Patrick's advice, but have someone else host it.
Just be sure you can get backups whenever you want them, also be sure
you own the domain name so you can take it with you, and don't use any
type of proprietary system on the server that locks you into a certain
system.

::::::::::::::::::::::::
Blake Carver
Technical Librarian
New York Power Authority
Niagara Project  

> Doug's points are well-taken. There are significant risks 
> when contracting with a third party for this sort of service. 
> While you avoid most of the cost of infrastructure, you do 
> incur a whole lot of risk.
> 
> You'll want to know if they provide a dedicated 
> telecommunications line for a secure link to their facility. 
> If you're using the Internet, is the connection to the 
> website secured? (i.e. are they using VPN or through SSL?) 
> How often are they patching their firewalls and servers?
> What sort of intrusion monitoring are they doing?
> 
> Since you work for a government agency, you'll also want to 
> know if it is permissible for a private company to be storing 
> and retaining state government records. Are you in violation 
> of state records laws? Are you opening the door to violation 
> of privacy laws? I would expect that you'll want an opinion 
> from your attorney general. You'll also want to be certain 
> that your state archives has approved the imaging process and 
> authorized the destruction of paper records.
> 
> The biggest issue is really the stability of the company. If 
> they go kaput, you better have a way to get those images back 
> and use them, so standard image formats and metadata are 
> critical. I also strongly recommend that you require them to 
> escrow their software, particularly if they have any 
> home-built stuff. Ideally, if they can escrow your images (or 
> provide you with CDs on a regular basis), you'll have a fall 
> back if something bad happens.
 

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