What does the term "Fully elastic" refer to in cloud characteristics?

The term "Fully elastic" in the context of cloud characteristics refers to the cloud's ability to scale resources up and down seamlessly and dynamically based on the workload requirements. This elasticity allows users to provision and de-provision resources in real-time, providing the flexibility to adapt to extreme variations in demand without the need for extensive manual intervention or permanent resource commitments.

This rapid scaling capability is one of the fundamental advantages of cloud computing, enabling organizations to optimize their costs and utilize resources efficiently. For instance, if an application experiences a sudden surge in traffic, the elastic nature of cloud services allows additional resources such as CPU or storage to be allocated instantly. Conversely, when demand decreases, resources can be scaled back accordingly to avoid unnecessary expenses, ensuring that businesses only pay for what they use.

In contrast, fixed resource allocation implies that the resources are set and cannot be changed without significant effort, which directly contradicts the concept of elasticity. Limited user access does not connect directly to resource allocation or scalability but rather to security and governance. Static pricing models also do not support the dynamic nature of elastic resource management, as they suggest a lack of flexibility in pricing based on usage or resource demand.