Brian Wilson

There is a lot of talk lately about new self-service options for cloud computing and virtualized enterprise IT resources. Nearly every vendor offers a way to deliver on-demand cloud services to users without the need for help from the IT department. Self-service for the cloud is valuable to both the business user and the IT department, much in the same way that booking a flight reservation online or withdrawing money from an ATM machine are helpful in our own personal lives. But as many organizations dig deeper, they're finding that not all self-service offerings are the same. There are four basic options currently available: 1. First Come, First Served This type of self-service cloud capability is similar to the old-fashioned video movie rental process. When you went to the video store, you could only check out a movie if the store had it in stock. Similarly, the fi... (more)