A cloud computing data center is a facility whose servers, storage and networking equipment supply the physical resources behind a cloud service. The data center is not the cloud by itself. Cloud computing is a model for delivering shared computing resources over a network, on demand. A data center becomes part of a cloud only when software pools its hardware and offers it in that way.
The official definition of cloud computing
The most widely cited definition comes from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Peter Mell and Timothy Grance wrote it in Special Publication 800-145 in 2011:
“Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, 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.”
The definition is about how resources are accessed, not where they sit. Nothing in it mentions a building. NIST’s document dates from 2011, so treat it as a long-standing reference definition, not a new standard.
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Where the data center fits
NIST describes cloud infrastructure as the hardware and software that enables the cloud’s essential characteristics. It has two layers:
- Physical layer: the server, storage and network components. A data center typically houses these.
- Abstraction layer: software deployed across the physical layer. It turns the hardware into pooled, measurable, self-service resources.
So the facility and its equipment are the substrate. What makes the setup “cloud” is how those resources are abstracted, pooled, exposed over a network, provisioned and metered.
NIST’s resource-pooling description adds two details. Providers serve many consumers with a multi-tenant model, and they dynamically assign and reassign physical and virtual resources as demand changes. Customers generally do not know the exact location of their resources. They may be able to choose a higher-level location such as a country, state or data center.
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Data center versus cloud: a quick test
A room of servers is a data center. It counts as cloud computing only if it meets NIST’s five essential characteristics:
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| Characteristic | What to look for |
|---|---|
| On-demand self-service | Users can provision resources themselves, without a human at the provider. |
| Broad network access | Resources are reachable over the network by standard mechanisms. |
| Resource pooling | Shared physical and virtual resources serve multiple consumers (multi-tenant) and are reassigned dynamically. |
| Rapid elasticity | Capacity can be expanded and released quickly as demand changes. |
| Measured service | Usage is metered and reported. |
A traditional hosted environment, where you rent fixed servers and change them by ticket, typically fails several of these tests even though it lives in a data center. Once a claimed cloud service passes the five tests, you can classify its service and deployment model. NIST SP 500-322 (2018) offers guidance for evaluating a service against SP 800-145 in this way.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Service and deployment models
NIST identifies three service models and four deployment models. They describe what is offered and who it is offered to, not the hardware.
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Service models
- SaaS (Software as a Service): the consumer uses the provider’s applications.
- PaaS (Platform as a Service): the consumer deploys applications onto a provider’s platform.
- IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): the consumer rents fundamental computing resources such as processing, storage and networks.
Deployment models
- Private: provisioned for a single organization.
- Community: provisioned for a specific group of organizations with shared concerns.
- Public: open for use by the general public.
- Hybrid: a composition of two or more of the above that remain distinct but are bound together.
This is why a company’s own data center can host a private cloud, provided the software layer delivers the five characteristics. A public cloud provider’s data centers do the same for many customers.
A short working definition
For a glossary or an exam answer: a cloud computing data center is a facility housing the servers, storage and networking that a cloud platform abstracts, pools and meters, so that users can provision resources on demand over a network. That wording is a plain-language synthesis of NIST’s definition and its description of cloud infrastructure, not a quotation from it.
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