24. Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing resources over the internet, usually as a service from a cloud service provider (CSP).

It gives on-demand access to shared resources such as networks, servers, storage, applications, and services.

Cloud computing is designed to be scalable, elastic, and easy to use. Resources can be provided quickly and released when no longer needed.

Like a utility service, users access it through a standard interface and usually pay only for what they use.

A common definition is that cloud computing provides convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort.

Main Idea
Cloud computing provides shared IT resources over the internet on demand, with quick scaling and pay-for-use access. NIST is an example.