There are three aspects to Cloud Automation: 1. Provisioning 2. Change Managment 3. Security/Compliance Provisioning is typically across domains and is better enabled by strong service orchestration platforms that understand both the business(CRM/BSS etc) and the technology stack. Tidal has a edge in this context with its strong background supporting Enterprise Software integration(SAP etc.) and Runbook automation use cases with its flagship product(Tidal Scheduler). Its recent focus on intelligent network automation using tidal enterprise orchestrator platform is paying off. However it's UI capability seems to be weaker than Linesider from a cloud worldview LineSider addresses provisioning from access management and compliance perspective with decent user inteface and simple VM/appliance based delivery model for demonstrating technical provisioning capabilities. Today Cisco announced the intention to buy Pari Networks. http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2011/corp_012611.htm