Before Zotero 1.5 ships, we will add functionality to allow users to synchronize attachments to their own servers or other storage space (and we'll also provide a hosted storage solution for all Zotero users). We are still doing major development on the server side of things to optimize performance and add collaborative functionality, and there are no immediate plans to offer a turnkey server solution.
I think that the possibility to run a local Zotero-Server is crucial to establish a wide utilization of Zotero in some institutions. I hope therefore that your decision, not to implement the possibility for a dedicated server, ist not definitiv.
@fhz: I think you misread Sean's comment. We are committed to providing institutions with a variety of options for using Zotero on their own without us (and we have been documenting some of these solutions from the start). But given the complexity and ongoing development of the Zotero Server, what will be difficult for us in the near term to provide, as Sean notes, is a "turnkey solution"--that is, an easily downloadable and installable package to instantly replicate the server's functionality.
Might be worth following what's going on in the land of twitter and open source alternatives. I don't know all the details, but services like identi.ca are based on XMPP and allow for distributed/federated deployment. E.g. there's now a centralized server, but people can also set up their own, but still benefit from integration across the servers. See here and here.
The Zotero dataserver code is open and online:
https://github.com/zotero/dataserver
There are basic, user-generated, un-official and possibly outdated instructions for running it here:
http://www.zotero.org/support/dev/dataserver_setup
Any attempts to do so will not be supported by Zotero, though you're free to ask questions on the the dev mailing list, where other people running local instances of Zotero server may be willing to help.
You should be clear on the fact that this is not an easy to implement solution - without a local IT infrastructure this is pretty much not do-able.
Upgrade Storage
fhz
Thanks for the answer beforehand!
https://github.com/zotero/dataserver
There are basic, user-generated, un-official and possibly outdated instructions for running it here:
http://www.zotero.org/support/dev/dataserver_setup
Any attempts to do so will not be supported by Zotero, though you're free to ask questions on the the dev mailing list, where other people running local instances of Zotero server may be willing to help.
You should be clear on the fact that this is not an easy to implement solution - without a local IT infrastructure this is pretty much not do-able.