Cloud Computing is:
the on-demand delivery of compute power, storage, databases, applications, artificial intelligence, machine learning and other IT resources over the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing.
The term “Cloud” is generally used to encompass this technology, ecosystem of platforms and tools as well as ways-of-working and architectural approaches that make the best use of cloud technology.
Cloud services should be “OSSM”:
- On-demand: services are available when requested, being provided in seconds/minutes not days and weeks
- Self-service: users can create, manage and destroy resoruces themselves, often via an API
- Scalable: users can choose the amount of resources they want, increasing and decreasing them in line with their needs
- Measurable: service usage is measured and monitored supporting logging, auditability and cost management
Cloud is often decribed in terms of IaaS, PaaS and Serverless.
