Cloud Computing, 2nd Edition

Desktop Solutions on Demand

For years, desktop computer management went something like this:

• A new employee joins the company. The IT staff, in turn, prepares a desktop computer with the needed software and delivers it to the new employee’s desk.

• When it comes time to upgrade software, an IT support member carrying a CD-ROM disk would visit each desktop computer and take as long as needed to install the software. A higher-tech data center, in turn, would have a desktop administrator push the upgrade across the network either at night or early in the morning.

• When users encountered problems, the IT staff member would again show up at the user’s desk to troubleshoot the problem, or the higher-tech data center would have a help-desk support-team ...