#5 The 5 Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing: On-demand and self-service, ubiquitous network access, location transparent resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service with pay per use. The characteristics were defined by the National Institute of Standards and technology (NIST) as part of their “Definition of Cloud Computing” publication.

#3 The 3 stands for the three service delivery methods: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure (IaaS). All services being offered using cloud computing would fall under one or more of the above delivery methods, whether it be office applications and games (SaaS) or cloud backup storage or computing resources (IaaS).

#2 The two main deployment models of cloud computing: The Private and the Public Cloud models. NIST lists down four deployment models, but the other two is really just either a combination or a derivative of these two main ones. The public cloud is meant for public consumption while a private cloud’s infrastructure is dedicated for private use, like in large corporations or government agencies.

The 5-3-2 Principle is a new, simple, and structured way to approach cloud computing whether it is for simple conversations between colleagues or for educating people on what cloud computing truly is.

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