The consumer can unilaterally provision and manage computing capabilities without requiring human interaction. Metered Service Providers and consumers can meter.
Metered Service
Providers and consumers can meter the units of computing capabilities utilised. (A unit could be defined as bandwidth, time, memory, seats, etc.)
Rapid Scaling
Computing capabilities can be quickly and automatically scaled up or down to meet business or consumer demand.
Resource Pooling
Computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers and are dynamically assigned and reassigned to consumers based on demand.
Broad Network Access
Computing capabilities are available over the network and can be accessed through different end-user devices.