(photo by KatMonkey)

Brandon Hall Research recently reported average LMS prices.  The trend towards hosted LMS systems becoming cheaper than installed ones is new but is very consistent with our experience here at Solution Grove.  Hardware is getting cheaper and replication systems are getting more sophisticated.  If you control all the hardware and every part of the software stack then it's very easy to create a new instance of the LMS system.  However, setting up systems inside another organization's data center remains complex.  We do set up systems on-site on the customer's preference of operating system, but each operating system, each firewall, mail server, etc. has its own peculiarities and settings and, of course, new sysadmins to get to know.  

For many customers, like hospitals, it's absolutely essential to be hosted in their data center.  But it's always hard to disappoint a nonprofit organization or a school who has a server donated and who expects it to save them money in running their LMS. 

Oh, and if anyone is curious, our prices are WAY below average even for a customized system. :)