Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like electricity.

It is a paradigm shift following the mainframe and client-server shifts that preceded it. Details are abstracted from the users who no longer have need of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them.Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources as a service over the Internet.
The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on the cloud drawing used in the past to represent the telephone network.Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online which are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.