A planning department wants elastic analytics capacity without buying every server for the basement rack. How should they define cloud computing for Big Data in that context?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Cloud for Big Data means tapping virtualized compute and storage on demand—like metering power instead of wiring your own generator farm. Basement ownership is optional; elastic capacity is the point. That is the civic cloud idea in one line.
Full Explanation
Cloud computing provides network-accessible, on-demand virtualized resources that municipalities can scale for analytics without owning all underlying hardware. That definition supports Big Data workloads that spike and shrink. Equating cloud with only on-prem mainframes, casual email spreadsheets, or a lone desktop misses the virtualization and elasticity syllabus framing. Chapter 9 starts from this resource model, not from a specific vendor SKU.