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WIKIPEDIA ENTRY: Cloud Computing Fundamentals

Cloud computing is formally defined by the ISO as "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand." This concept is ubiquitously referred to simply as "the cloud."

== Core Attributes ==

In the year 2011, the United States' National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) established five foundational "essential characteristics" requisite for cloud systems. The precise definitions provided by NIST are enumerated below:

• On-demand self-service: "A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service provider."
• Broad network access: "Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations)."
• Resource pooling: " The provider's computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand."
• Rapid elasticity: "Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in some cases automatically, to scale rapidly outward and inward commensurate with demand. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear unlimited and can be appropriated in any quantity at any time."
• Measured service: "Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service."

By 2023, revisions and expansions to this set were issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

== Historical Context ==

The origins of cloud computing can be traced back to the 1960s, where the initial concepts centered around time-sharing gained traction through remote job entry (RJE) methods. The dominant operational structure of that epoch was the "data center" model, where end-users would submit computational tasks to dedicated operators for execution on mainframe systems. This period was characterized by intensive investigation and trial with methodologies aimed at democratizing access to substantial computational capacity via time-sharing, optimizing the underlying infrastructure, platform layers, and applications, thereby boosting end-user productivity. The specific graphical representation of a "cloud" symbolizing virtualized services originated in 1994. It was employed by General Magic to denote the abstract universe of accessible "locations" for mobile software agents operating within the Telescript framework. This metaphorical usage is attributed to David Hoffman, who served as a communications specialist at General Magic, drawing upon its established convention within telecommunications and networking contexts. The phrase "cloud computing" gained significantly broader recognition in 1996 when Compaq Computer Corporation drafted a strategic business outline concerning the future of computing and the Internet. The corporation harbored aspirations to supercharge...