"The Cloud" Defined
According to the official NIST definition, “cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”
NIST has several reference documents in its Cloud Computing subject area—
- NIST Cloud Computing Program, http://www.nist.gov/itl/cloud/
- NIST Cloud Computing Standards Roadmap
- Cloud Computing, Security Reference Architecture RFC
Another perspective relating possible confusion with virtualization—
- What IS the difference between Virt and Cloud?, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/17/hybrid_cloud_definitions_analysis/