Cloud computing is the term often used to refer to virtualised resources as a service over the Internet (web-based applications). Users do not need to have the knowledge, expertise, or control over the technology to use its services. Cloud computing services often provide common business applications in an online (web-based) format that are accessed through a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the service provider's servers.
The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on the Internet depiction in technical computer network diagrams.
A technical definition for cloud computing is that "cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction". In accordance to this definition, Cloud Computing has five essential characteristics:
