The Top Five Characteristics of Cloud Computing: NIST
Discover the top five characteristics of cloud computing.
With the cloud getting mature both technologically and commercially, maximizing its potential benefits will become easier for companies. However, comprehending what is cloud and how it can benefit you is just as important. Based on the definition of cloud computing by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), here are the top five characteristics of cloud computing.
#1: On-demand Self Service
Not much human interaction is needed by cloud computing services. Moreover, they are available on-demand. Cloud facilitates a web-based self-service management console through which the resources could be provisioned, managed, and monitored by the user as per the requirement. The cloud user can create the service himself, whether it is the creation of a new mailbox or the addition of extra disk space to a virtual machine.
For example, while booking a flight or a train ticket on a travel portal, you do not require any salesperson during the process. Whether it is about choosing the flight/train or the seat/ birth, everything is automated and does not require any human interaction.
#2: Resource Pooling and Multi-tenancy
Computing resources like servers, storage, networks, applications, and services can be securely separated on a logical level and can be pooled to cater to the computing needs of multiple consumers. A multi-tenant model is employed to achieve this goal. Through this multi-tenant model, multiple users can share the same physical infrastructure or application while retaining data privacy and security. It is much like sharing the same building infrastructure, still, you have the privacy of your apartment. Another example could be a flight carrying several passengers on the trip where the passengers have the same destination but separate seats are allotted to them based on their need and demand.
#3: Broad Network Access
You can access cloud computing from a network, usually over the internet through various heterogeneous devices like mobile phones, tablets, laptops, office computers, etc. Whether it is about accessing the existing data or uploading new data on the cloud platform, users can do it from anywhere as long as they have an internet connection and a compatible device. For example, while booking a flight ticket, the user can make use of any device like laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc., and the internet to access the network.
#4: Rapid Elasticity and Scalability
In cloud computing, the resource capabilities cannot only be provisioned but also released elastically for meeting immediate requirements. In the same way, you could scale down or even remove the resource capabilities when not in need. In some of the cases, scalability takes place automatically as a reaction to the business demands ensuring that the application has the required capacity at any point in time. One more thing scalability does is add a cost-effectiveness characteristic to cloud computing. If the demand is high, the resource capabilities can be scaled up as well. For example, if the number of passengers is high, the railways increases the number of trains and decreases it respectively if the number decreases.
#5: Measured Service
Cloud computing facilitates the tracking, monitoring, controlling, and reporting of the resource utilization for each occupant. It ensures transparency with both the service provider and the consumer. With a metering capability, the cloud helps you monitor the use of resources, billing, and you pay only for what you use. For example, if you are traveling by train, you only need to pay for the distance you have traveled and not for the entire distance covered by the train.
The Final Words
Its rapid adoption by the current generation companies has let the cloud gain a lot of momentum. The convenient services it proffers and at reasonable costs are helping the enterprises grow to a maximum extent. Almost every organization, nowadays, is leveraging the power of the cloud, making it the most sought-after technology in all sectors of the business and economy. The cloud has become the go-to platform for data storage, application development, etc. In it, the costs are measurable, risks can be controlled, resource capabilities can be scaled and a lot can be achieved.
