Which of the following statements best describes cloud computing?

The statement that cloud computing provides scalable resources on-demand over the Internet captures the essence of what cloud computing is all about. One of the primary advantages of cloud computing is its ability to dynamically allocate resources such as storage, processing power, and networking capabilities as needed. This flexibility allows businesses and individuals to only pay for what they use, making it a cost-effective solution compared to traditional computing models, which often require substantial upfront investment in hardware.

Cloud computing facilitates scalability in two ways: vertical scaling, which involves increasing/decreasing resources within existing infrastructure, and horizontal scaling, which adds or removes instances within the cloud environment. This on-demand nature promotes efficiency and responsiveness to changing workloads, enhancing productivity and reducing operational costs.

The other statements do not accurately reflect the broad and flexible nature of cloud computing. For instance, requiring significant upfront investment goes against the fundamental principle of a cloud model, which typically promotes leveraging existing infrastructure over purchasing new hardware. Supporting only storage-related applications is misleading, as cloud computing encompasses a wide range of services beyond storage, including computing power, application hosting, and more. Finally, being primarily concerned with physical server management is also incorrect; cloud computing abstracts away the physical management of servers, allowing users to focus on the services and applications that run on