My pre-concerns of nodeJS

Recently, our tech team has got well into nodeJS - even recently launching our first project utilising it.

I am (sadly) at the beginning, with hardly any prior knowledge about this strange-mystical-yet-exciting technology.

My concerns with it are:

• Stability & Security
• Support
• Having to re-write existing processes/functions
• Do I really have to learn a new language?
• Advantages it gives in real terms

As I pre-empted, my knowledge about this tech is pretty much non-existent, and I believe that I can ask these questions to our tech team and they can blog back the answers to my queries. Thereby opening up what would be an internal discussion we'd be having.

Ok, so:

Stability & Security

I take our 10 or so years of PHP development (and hosting of) as a huge advantage, we have encountered and overcome many, many stability and security concerns over the years - The simple question is: How stable and secure is NodeJS?

Support

Many of us on the tech team follow, and have  followed for a number of years, the PHP community - which is vast. When we come to new problems we can usually 1) overcome them using experience and comfort within the language 2) ask our colleagues 3) Use the vast community; from PHP UK/Conference groups we attend - to friends we hold dear within the PHP community. My question would be: Are we in the wilderness with Node?

Having to re-write existing processes/functions

I think the heading says it all. My question is - do I really have to re-write session management, cookie detection, caching etc etc?

Do I really have to learn a new language?

I have spent ages learning PHP, do I really need to learn this new language?

Advantages it gives in real terms

I know that speed will be your first response, but I want details! Scalability - how will this be better than our incumbent systems? Give me more.. ?!

btw - I am playing devil's advocate - in case you hadn't guessed!!!

.......I can feel the overwhelming response coming!!