What is Cloud Computing?

• A. A private data center on-premises
• B. On-demand delivery of IT resources and applications through the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing
• C. A networking protocol for IoT devices
• D. A method of storing data on magnetic tapes only

Answer: (B)

Cloud computing is about delivering IT resources and applications over the internet on demand, with pricing based on usage. It lets you access computing power, storage, and software as needed, without large upfront hardware investments, and you pay only for what you use. This models supports scaling up or down quickly, offers flexibility, and is typically provided as services like IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS—often hosted publicly, privately, or in a hybrid setup.

The other descriptions describe traditional on-premises infrastructure, a networking protocol for IoT, or offline storage methods, none of which capture the on-demand, internet-based delivery and pay-as-you-go nature of cloud computing.