Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources. Cloud computing and storage solutions provide users and enterprises with various capabilities to store and process their data in third-party data centers: It relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and economies of scale, similar to a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network. At the foundation of cloud computing is the broader concept of converged infrastructure and shared services. It is a general term for the delivery of hosted services over the internet.
Cloud computing enables companies to consume compute resources as a utility – just like electricity – rather than having to build and maintain computing infrastructures in-house. It promises several attractive benefits for businesses and end users. It is the use of various services, such as software development platforms, servers, storage, and software, over the internet, often referred to as the “cloud.” Three of the main benefits of cloud computing includes:
Self-service provisioning: End users can spin up computing resources for almost any type of workload on-demand.
Elasticity: Companies can scale up as computing needs increase and then scale down again as demands decrease.
Pay per use: Computing resources are measured at a granular level, allowing users to pay only for the resources and workloads they use.
Cloud computing services can be private, public or hybrid. It is common to categorize these services as infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) or software as a service (SaaS).
