Yes. The same “one waterRIDE” framework is used to compile both waterRIDE Classic and Cloud. This means, you will have the same, rich functionality available. We've worked hard on our next-generation platform to expand what's possible on the cloud.
So you'd prefer to run waterRIDE CLOUD on your corporate LAN? No worries. That's our "Local Cloud" installation option. Here's some of what you can look forward to:
• No more end-client installation - just use your browser and logon to access waterRIDE
• Speed improvements – running from a central server, network data transmission is massively reduced. If your network or machine has average specs, you’ll notice substantial improvements.
• Work from home – much easier (and faster) access to your waterRIDE projects. Generally, just VPN into the network and open your browser.
• Finer-level access control – user specific permissions on data extraction and project access can be applied
• Easier updates – just update waterRIDE on the server and all users are instantly running the latest version
• More concurrent Viewer licenses – waterRIDE CLOUD generally comes with additional Viewer seats, and further concurrent seats are very low cost to add
As all processing and data consumption is local to the server, waterRIDE CLOUD minimises data transfer (slow) and instead merely serves “pictures” (which are very small and fast to transfer) to your browser. Our waterRIDE.net servers are also very powerful, more than likely much better than your machine.
For existing waterRIDE users, you can move your existing licenses to the Cloud for A$2,000 (ex GST) in additional to your current maintenance fee (provided you have a valid waterRIDE License Server subscription). If you wanted us to host your data and waterRIDE software, hosting fees would apply. Please contact us for the latest price list.
Sure. We have deliberately provided flexible waterRIDE CLOUD installation options to suit the various types of end users that we have. There are three cloud setup scenarios:
1) “Local Cloud” – not really a cloud option, in this setup you install waterRIDE CLOUD on a server on your existing network. Users then access the waterRIDE software and data via their browser. This is a great way to fully centralise your waterRIDE experience and management without needing to host it on the cloud.
2) “Customer Cloud” – in this setup you install waterRIDE CLOUD on your own Cloud infrastructure. Data, access, uptime, updates etc are managed by you.
3) “waterRIDE.net Cloud” – in this setup, we host your waterRIDE software and datasets on our AWS cloud. We look after data storage, data backup, uptime, software updates.
For the end user, just an HTML5 compliant browser.
For the server, operating system requirements are Windows server 2012 or higher, or Windows 10. For every 3-5 concurrent users expected we would allocate the following hardware:
- A dedicated CPU (3GHz + recommended)
- 8GB RAM
- NVMe SSD local drive for data where possible
We are charged by our cloud provider, Amazon Web Services for both the server you use, and the data you store. There is also a cost associated with us managing your waterRIDE application and administering our cloud. To potentially reduce costs, you can host waterRIDE on your own organisations Cloud infrastructure (or even just on your LAN/WAN).
For Australian and New Zealand customers, we use the Amazon Sydney hub for application and data hosting. UK hosting is on the AWS London hub. In North America, you can choose from any of the relevant North American AWS hubs.
Amazon is a globally recognised Tier 1 cloud infrastructure provider. In our hosting we minimise open ports and encrypt all traffic to/from the server. Our servers achieve an A-grade rating from SSLLabs.com.
Data residing on the server is encrypted. All waterRIDE.net hosted data is automatically backed up to separate customer-based Amazon S3 storage buckets (again, encrypted). We also support authentication via SAML and OAUTH2 to provide seamless integration with your organisations security framework, including Single Sign On. We also provide email-based 2FA for those using the standard waterRIDE authentication.
We can email our Architecture and Security Statement document on request.
The name’s a bit cheeky but it is our fully managed waterRIDE service offering. For an annual fee and new study conversion/import fees, we would look after you entire waterRIDE experience. From ongoing data management, versioning, metadata, archiving, conversion, project setup and build, to user configuration, permissions and general technical assistance, we would essentially provide you with access to a part-time “waterRIDE person” to look after you. The goal is a truly hassle free (for you) experience. Just log in and your flooding data is at your fingertips, with no effort from you. This service requires hosted waterRIDE CLOUD (by us on waterRIDE.net or by you on your “customer cloud”).
You can “check out” a cloud license to run as a local license for a set period of time. Whilst checked out, that license is no longer available for others to use. You need to have waterRIDE Classic (available for download) installed on your machine to be able to use this feature.
A good example of working in this mode is when you are initially importing and reviewing results a consultant has sent to you on a hard drive (why aren't they using waterRIDE CLOUD?). You would normally do these tasks locally, and then copy these datasets to your waterRIDE CLOUD setup when ready for access by others.
Absolutely. If on the cloud, you would need to ensure that waterRIDE can access any river/rain gauge information if needed (eg you may need to auto-upload your Enviromon reports), and that you have valid licenses for any hydrologic models the system may be using.
Just provide them with a time-limited logon name and have them point their browser to your waterRIDE CLOUD host. You can set a date/time at which their logon expires as well as which projects they can open and what they can do in terms of any data extraction. If you only wanted to share some of your datasets, we suggest you create a new waterRIDE project and only include the data you want them to see/access.
We provide secure FTPS access to your waterRIDE.net hosted service for bulk uploading and management of file-based datasets. We have also developed a graphical waterRIDE CLOUD Explorer tool which can be used for most file operations.
No. waterRIDE Classic continues to be an important product for us and, in fact, as Cloud is built on the same “one waterRIDE” framework they are, mostly, the same code. We just added “classic” to the name to distinguish it from Cloud.
Not yet. For the moment we have disabled mobile device access. Given the nature of mobile device interaction (fat fingers vs fine mouse pointer), we need to change the way a few of the tools behave. This is on our agenda.
We are working on an online training portal with “self-paced” video tutorials. These tutorials will complement the formal face to face/virtual training sessions.