Cloud computing

Terms related to cloud computing, including definitions about on-demand, distributed computing and words and phrases about software-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-a-service and storage-as-a-service.

3PL (third-party logistics) - A 3PL (third-party logistics) provider offers outsourced logistics services, which encompass anything that involves management of one or more facets of procurement and fulfillment activities.
Amazon - Amazon (Amazon.
Amazon Aurora - Amazon Aurora is a relational database engine from Amazon Web Services.
Amazon Cognito - Amazon Cognito is an Amazon Web Services product that controls user authentication and access for mobile applications on internet-connected devices.
Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) - Amazon Elastic Block Store is a cloud-based block storage system provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that is best used for storing persistent data.
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a web-based service that enables businesses to run application programs in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS) - Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) is a cloud computing service in Amazon Web Services (AWS) that manages containers and allows developers to run applications in the cloud without having to configure an environment for the code to run in.
Amazon EMR (Elastic MapReduce) - Amazon EMR (previously known as Amazon Elastic MapReduce) is an Amazon Web Services (AWS) tool for big data processing and analysis.
Amazon Glacier - Amazon Glacier, also known as Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) Glacier, is a low-cost cloud storage service for data with longer retrieval times offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Amazon Inspector - Amazon Inspector is an AWS tool that automatically assesses a customer's AWS cloud deployment for security vulnerabilities and deficiencies.
Amazon Machine Image (AMI) - An Amazon Machine Image (AMI) is a master image for the creation of virtual servers -- known as EC2 instances -- in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment.
Amazon Machine Learning - Amazon Machine Learning is an Amazon Web Services product that allows a developer to discover patterns in end-user data through algorithms, construct mathematical models based on these patterns and then create and implement predictive applications.
Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) - Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is a managed database service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Amazon Resource Name (ARN) - An Amazon Resource Name is a file naming convention used to identify a particular resource in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) - Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) is a managed message queuing service technical professionals and developers use to send, store and retrieve multiple messages of various sizes asynchronously.
Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) - Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is a scalable, high-speed, web-based cloud storage service.
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) - Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) allows a developer to create a virtual network for resources in an isolated section of the Amazon Web Services cloud.
Amazon's data-flow PaaS: AppStream and Kinesis - Learn why AppStream and Kinesis are different kinds of data flow services.
Anaplan - Anaplan is a web-based enterprise platform for business planning.
API economy - The API economy refers to the set of business models and practices designed around the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) in today's digital economy.
API gateway (application programming interface gateway) - An API gateway is a software pattern that sits in front of an application programming interface (API) or group of microservices to facilitate requests and delivery of data and services.
application migration - Application migration is the process of moving an application program from one environment to another.
Artificial Intelligence as a Service (AIaaS) - Artificial Intelligence as a Service (AIaaS) is the third-party offering of artificial intelligence (AI) outsourcing.
autoscaling - Autoscaling provides users with an automated approach to increase or decrease the compute, storage or networking resources they have allocated, as traffic spikes and use patterns demand.
AWS CloudFormation (Amazon Web Services CloudFormation) - AWS CloudFormation is a free service that provides Amazon Web Services customers with the tools they need to create and manage the infrastructure a particular software application requires to run on AWS.
AWS CloudWatch - Amazon CloudWatch is a component of Amazon Web Services that provides monitoring for AWS resources and the customer applications running on the Amazon infrastructure.
AWS Educate (Amazon Web Services Educate) - AWS Educate is a free, online learning program that teaches students about cloud computing.
AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) - AWS Key Management Service (KMS) is a managed service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows companies to create, control and manage the cryptographic keys that encrypt and protect their data.
AWS Management Console - The AWS Management Console is a web-based application that lets users access the broad range of services included in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform.
AWS Network Load Balancer (NLB) - AWS Network Load Balancer (NLB) is an Amazon Web Services tool that distributes high-performance traffic across multiple cloud instances and provides automatic scaling of resources to ensure low latency and high throughput for applications.
AWS On-Demand Instances (Amazon Web Services On-Demand Instances) - AWS On-Demand Instances (Amazon Web Services On-Demand Instances) are virtual servers that run in AWS Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) or AWS Relational Database Service (RDS) and are purchased at a fixed rate per hour.
AWS Reserved Instances - AWS Reserved Instances (RIs) refer to compute capacity that can be reserved on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) and Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) to take advantage of discounted pricing.
Azure Container Instances (ACI) - Azure Container Instances (ACI) is a service that enables a developer to deploy containers on the Microsoft Azure public cloud without having to provision or manage any underlying infrastructure.
Azure Migrate - Azure Migrate is a Microsoft service that helps an enterprise assess how its on-premises workloads will perform, and how much they will cost to host, in the Azure public cloud.
Azure Quantum - Azure Quantum is a full-stack cloud service designed to allow users remote access to quantum computers.
backup as a service (BaaS) - Backup as a service (BaaS) is an approach to backing up data that involves purchasing backup and recovery services from an online data backup provider.
bare-metal cloud - Bare-metal cloud is a public cloud service that offers dedicated hardware resources without any installed operating systems or virtualization infrastructure.
big data as a service (BDaaS) - Big data as a service (BDaS) is the delivery of data platforms and tools by a cloud provider to help organizations process, manage and analyze large data sets so they can generate insights to improve business operations and gain a competitive advantage.
Boomi AtomSphere Platform (Dell Boomi AtomSphere) - Dell Boomi is a Software as a Service (SaaS) integration vendor that provides its AtomSphere technology to a host of industry giants, including Salesforce.
CAIQ (Consensus Assessments Initiative Questionnaire) - The Consensus Assessments Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ) is a survey provided by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) for cloud consumers and auditors to assess the security capabilities of a cloud service provider.
carrier cloud - A carrier cloud is a cloud computing environment that is owned and operated by a traditional telecommunications service provider.
CenturyLink - CenturyLink is an integrated telecommunications company that provides a wide variety of products and services to clients across the globe, including networking, cloud service and security solutions.
Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) - Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) is an International Information System Security Certification Consortium, or (ISC)2, certification that covers cloud-based cybersecurity best practices.
Chaos Monkey - Chaos Monkey is a software tool Netflix engineers developed to test the resiliency and recoverability of their Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure.
Chef (software) - Chef is an open source systems management and cloud infrastructure automation platform.
Citrix Cloud - Citrix Cloud is a management and delivery platform for IT administrators to design, deliver and manage virtual desktops and applications and other services, such as file sharing, on any device.
click-wrap agreement (click-through agreement) - A click-wrap agreement (click-through agreement) is an online agreement in which the user signifies their acceptance by clicking a button or checking a box that states, 'I agree.
cloud analytics - Cloud analytics is a service model in which one or more key element of data analytics is provided through a public or private cloud.
cloud application - A cloud application, or cloud app, is a software program where cloud-based and local components work together.
cloud archive - A cloud archive is storage as a service for long-term data retention.
cloud audit - A cloud audit is an assessment of a cloud computing environment and its services, based on a specific set of controls and best practices.
cloud browser - A cloud browser is a cloud-based combination of a web browser application with a virtualized container that implements the concept of remote browser isolation.
cloud bursting - Cloud bursting is an application deployment technique in which an application runs in a private cloud or data center and bursts into a public cloud when the demand for computing capacity spikes.
cloud collaboration - Cloud collaboration is a type of enterprise collaboration that allows employees to work together on documents and other data types, which are stored off-premises and outside of the company firewall.
Cloud Controls Matrix - The Cloud Controls Matrix is a baseline set of security controls created by the Cloud Security Alliance to help enterprises assess the risk associated with a cloud computing provider.
cloud data management - Cloud data management is a way to manage data across cloud platforms, either with or instead of on-premises storage.
Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) - The Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) is an international standard that defines a functional interface that applications use to create, retrieve, update and delete data elements from cloud storage.
cloud ecosystem - A cloud ecosystem is a complex system of interdependent components that all work together to enable cloud services.
cloud encryption - Cloud encryption is a service cloud storage providers offer whereby a customer's data is transformed using encryption algorithms from plaintext into ciphertext and stored in the cloud.
cloud ERP - Cloud ERP is a type of enterprise resource planning software that runs on a provider's cloud computing platform, rather than on premises on an enterprise's own computers.
Cloud Foundry - Cloud Foundry is an open source cloud platform as a service (PaaS) on which developers can build, deploy, run and scale applications.
cloud hosting - Cloud hosting is the process of outsourcing an organization's computing and storage resources to a service provider that offers its infrastructure services in a utility model.
cloud IDE - A cloud IDE is a web-based integrated development platform.
cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM) - Cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM) is a discipline for managing identities and privileges in cloud environments.
cloud integration - Cloud integration is the act of combining different cloud-based systems into an integral whole.
cloud load balancing - Cloud load balancing is the process of distributing workloads across computing resources in a cloud computing environment and carefully balancing the network traffic accessing those resources.
cloud management platform (CMP) - A cloud management platform (CMP) is a suite of integrated software tools that an enterprise can use to monitor and control cloud environments.
cloud modernization - Cloud modernization is a multistep process where existing on-premises applications, infrastructure and data sources are migrated, updated and transformed into a cloud-based architecture and environment.
cloud NAS (cloud network attached storage) - Cloud NAS (network attached storage) is remote storage that is accessed over the internet as if it is local.
cloud object storage - Cloud object storage is a format for storing unstructured data in the cloud.
cloud orchestration (cloud orchestrator) - Cloud orchestration is the use of programming technology to manage the interconnections and interactions among workloads on public and private cloud infrastructure.
cloud penetration testing - Cloud penetration testing is a tactic an organization uses to assess its cloud security effectiveness by attempting to evade its own defenses.
cloud provisioning - Cloud provisioning is the allocation of a cloud provider's resources and services to a customer.
cloud security - Cloud security, also known as 'cloud computing security,' is a set of policies, practices and controls deployed to protect cloud-based data, applications and infrastructure from cyberattacks and cyberthreats.
Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) - The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is a nonprofit organization that promotes research into best practices for securing cloud computing and the use of cloud technologies to secure other forms of computing.
cloud security architecture - Cloud security architecture is a security strategy designed around securing an organization's data and applications in the cloud.
cloud security posture management (CSPM) - Cloud security posture management (CSPM) is a market segment for IT security tools that are designed to identify misconfiguration issues and compliance risks in the cloud.
cloud server - A cloud server is a compute server that has been virtualized, making its resources accessible to users remotely over a network.
cloud service provider (cloud provider) - A cloud service provider, or CSP, is a company that offers components of cloud computing -- typically, infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (SaaS) or platform as a service (PaaS).
cloud SLA (cloud service-level agreement) - A cloud SLA (cloud service-level agreement) is an agreement between a cloud service provider and a customer that ensures a minimum level of service is maintained.
cloud sourcing - Cloud sourcing is an arrangement in which a company pays a third-party cloud hosting provider to deliver and support IT services that could be provided in-house.
cloud sprawl - Cloud sprawl is the uncontrolled proliferation of an organization's cloud instances, services or providers.
cloud storage - Cloud storage is a service model in which data is transmitted and stored on remote storage systems, where it is maintained, managed, backed up and made available to users over a network (typically the internet).
cloud storage API - A cloud storage API is an application programming interface that connects a locally based application to a cloud-based storage system so that a user can send data to it and access and work with data stored in it.
cloud storage provider - A cloud storage provider, sometimes referred to as a managed service provider, is a company that offers organizations and individuals the ability to place and retain data in an off-site storage system.
cloud storage service - A cloud storage service is a business that maintains and manages its customers' data and makes that data accessible over a network, usually the internet.
cloud telephony (cloud calling) - Cloud telephony (cloud calling) is a type of unified communications as a service (UCaaS) that offers voice communication services through a third-party host.
cloud testing - Cloud testing is the process of using the cloud computing resources of a third-party service provider to test software applications.
cloud washing - Cloud washing (also spelled cloudwashing) is the purposeful and sometimes deceptive attempt by a vendor to rebrand an old product or service by associating the buzzword 'cloud' with it.
cloud-native application - A cloud-native application is a program that is designed for a cloud computing architecture.
cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) - Cloud-native application protection platform, or CNAPP, is a software product that bundles multiple cloud security tools into one package, thereby delivering a holistic approach for securing an organization's cloud infrastructure, its cloud-native applications and its cloud workloads.
Cloudability - Cloudability is a software vendor that provides financial management tools for monitoring and analyzing cloud computing costs.
CloudCheckr - CloudCheckr is a vendor that provides a cloud management platform intended to give an organization more control over and visibility into its cloud computing costs, performance and security.
cloudlet - A cloudlet is a small-scale data center or cluster of computers designed to quickly provide cloud computing services to mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets and wearable devices, within close geographical proximity.
CloudOps (cloud operations) - Cloud operations (CloudOps) is the management, delivery and consumption of software in a computing environment where there is limited visibility into an app's underlying infrastructure.
colocation (colo) - A colocation facility (colo) is a data center or telecommunications facility in which a business can rent space for servers, storage devices, and other computing and networking hardware.
Common Service Center (CSC) - Common Service Center (CSC) is an initiative by the government of India to establish locations with computers that are freely available for citizens to use.
compliance as a service (CaaS) - Compliance as a service (CaaS) is a cloud service that specifies how a managed service provider (MSP) helps an organization meet its regulatory compliance mandates.
confidential computing - Confidential computing is a concept in which encrypted data can be processed in memory to limit access to protect data in use.
consumption-based pricing model - A consumption-based pricing model is a service provision and payment scheme in which customers pay according to the resources they use.