Word of the Day: on-demand computing

Word of the Day Daily updates on the latest technology terms |September 6, 2017

on-demand computing On-demand computing is a delivery model in which computing resources are made available to the user as needed. The resources may be maintained within the user's enterprise, or made available by a cloud service provider. When the services are provided by a third-party, the term cloud computing is often used as a synonym for on-demand computing. The on-demand model was developed to overcome the common challenge to an enterprise of being able to meet fluctuating demands efficiently. Because an enterprise's demand on computing resources can vary drastically from one time to another, maintaining sufficient resources to meet peak requirements can be costly. Conversely, if an enterprise tried to cut costs by only maintaining minimal computing resources, it is likely there will not be sufficient resources to meet peak requirements. The on-demand model provides an enterprise with the ability to scale computing resources up or down with the click of a button, an API call or a business rule. The model is characterized by three attributes: scalability, pay-per-use and self-service. Whether the resource is an application program that helps team members collaborate or additional storage for archiving images, the computing resources are elastic, metered and easy to obtain.   Many on-demand computing services in the cloud are so user-friendly that non-technical end users can easily acquire computing resources without any help from the organization's information technology (IT) department. This has advantages because it can improve business agility, but it also has disadvantages because shadow IT can pose security risks. For this reason, many IT departments carry out periodic cloud audits to identify greynet on-demand applications and other rogue IT. Quote of the Day "Cloud computing has shifted the technology model, giving customers on-demand computing services over the Internet..." - Nicole Lewis   Trending Terms cloud computing infrastructure as a service AWS On-Demand Instances Software as a Service rogue IT greynet   Learning Center Curb on-demand self-service risks with cloud inventory management Cloud's on-demand self-service model can lead to shadow IT risks. Fortunately, admins can use cloud inventory management to regain control. Autonomic computing may pave the way to software-defined data centers With larger IT shops under increasing pressure to deliver competitive applications and services, many see autonomic computing as a solution. The true definition of cloud computing is still lost on some IT pros The true definition of cloud computing, in many cases, has been lost on businesses and even some IT teams. Expert Mark May clears up the confusion. Cloud BI projects: Partners finding BI work, but not profits Cloud BI work is growing for channel partners, who find ample consulting opportunities. But they must make do without traditional BI income sources, such as servers and storage. Which cloud model is best for your big data project? While public, private and hybrid cloud can all play a role in your big data project, public cloud is emerging as the most popular option. But that doesn't mean it's right for you. Quiz Yourself Cloud ___________ is the exercise of administrative control over public, private and hybrid clouds. a. orchestration b. management Answer       Stay In Touch For feedback about any of our definitions or to suggest a new definition, please contact me at: mrouse@techtarget.com   Visit the Word of the Day Archives and catch up on what you've missed!   FOLLOW US About This E-Newsletter This e-newsletter is published by the TechTarget network. To unsubscribe from Whatis.com, click here. Please note, this will not affect any other subscriptions you have signed up for. TechTarget, Whatis, 275 Grove Street, Newton, MA 02466. Contact: webmaster@techtarget.com Copyright 2016 TechTarget. All rights reserved.