n a similar fashion as cloud providers. Their goals, in addition to lowering costs, are to make applications as easy to use as Google's Gmail, for example, and to standardize as much as possible on applications, based on open standards SO that user training and support costs are minimized. In addition, by trying to ensure that everyone uses the same version of each software package, all support personnel are "on the same page" and learn only the latest software version. This is now done by Salesforce.com, a web-based application that automates and tracks sales processes. Salesforce.com is owned by Oracle. Along with standardization and simplification, efforts are underway to automate as many functions as possible. Some software packages streamline help-desk functions by automatically identifying problems. In addition, reducing the number of applica- tions supported improves efficiency because it requires fewer staff members to support a smaller number of applications. Self-service is a key concept in data center automa- tion. When someone requests more computing power or an additional service, charge- back software can charge the employee's department directly upon the employee providing a department or authorization code. Ramifications of the Private Cloud Model and Unified Entities Virtualization and efforts to manage data centers as a unified entity have led organiza- tions to seek solutions from vendors whose equipment and software interoperate with Next-Generation Data Centers: Virtualization and Gigabit Speeds computing, switching, and storage systems. To provide this, many of the largest manu- facturers are forming alliances with other manufacturers and purchasing companies that offer complementary products. The use of equipment from the same manufacturers or from manufacturers with collaboration agreements is often referred to as providing a unified fabric. Using these services provides a way to manage and diagnose capacity and usage levels, resolve problems, and easily move virtual machines between physi