The five most significant attributes of cloud computing have been outlined by IT industry analyst Gartner.
According to the group, a solution must be service-based, scalable and elastic, shared, metered by use and delivered using internet identifiers in order to adhere closely to a cloud computing model.
Daryl Plummer, managing vice president and chief Gartner Fellow, stated that the more attributes which are supported by the technology, the greater the benefit to the customer.
He added: "When approaching cloud computing, providers of cloud services and potential consumers of cloud services must examine the attributes of cloud computing to determine whether their services will deliver the expected outcomes."
David Mitchell Smith, vice president and Gartner Fellow, explained that the degree to which the service exhibits the five characteristics indicates how far it corresponds to the cloud computing model.
Earlier this week, managed hosting solutions provider Logicworks commented that adopting cloud computing can allow firms to make the most of grid computing and virtualisation.