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Defining Cloud Computing

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What is Cloud Computing?

At its simplest, Cloud Computing is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale.

The 5 Essential Characteristics (NIST)

  1. On-demand self-service: Users can provision capabilities automatically without human intervention from the provider.
  2. Broad network access: Services are available over the network through standard mechanisms (mobile phones, laptops, etc.).
  3. Resource pooling: The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers (Multi-tenancy).
  4. Rapid elasticity: Capabilities can be scaled up or down instantly to match demand.
  5. Measured service: Resource usage is monitored and billed transparently (like a utility bill).