What is Cloud Computing?

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. It allows users to access and store data and applications on remote servers, rather than on a local server or personal computer.

Key Characteristics of Cloud Computing:

• On-Demand Self-Service: Users can provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed without requiring human interaction with each service provider.
• Broad Network Access: Access capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by diverse client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, laptops).
• Resource Pooling: The provider's computing resources are pooled to serve multiple customers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically allocated and reassigned according to demand.
• Rapid Elasticity: Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in some cases automatically, to scale rapidly outward and inward as demand changes.

Cloud computing has revolutionized the way businesses operate by offering cost-effective, flexible, and scalable solutions, allowing organizations to focus on innovation and growth, rather than managing complex IT infrastructure.