"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) which can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction." (NIST,2009). Enabling technologies include: (i) fast wide-area, networks; (ii) powerful inexpensive server computers; and (iii) high performance virtualisation for commodity hardware.
