What term describes a cloud infrastructure's ability to quickly scale based on demand?

The term "elasticity" precisely defines a cloud infrastructure's capability to rapidly adjust its resources to accommodate varying levels of demand. In cloud computing, elasticity refers to the system's ability to automatically provision and deprovision resources—such as storage, computing power, and network bandwidth—based on real-time needs. This means that when demand surges, the infrastructure can quickly allocate additional resources, and when demand decreases, it can reduce resources accordingly to optimize costs.

This dynamic scaling is crucial for businesses because it ensures efficient resource utilization and helps maintain performance without overspending on infrastructure that may not always be necessary. Elasticity allows organizations to respond promptly to changes in user load, making it an integral characteristic of a cloud environment.

The other terms listed, while relevant to cloud computing, do not encapsulate the concept of rapid scaling based on demand in the same way. Federation refers to the interlinking of multiple systems or domains, automation involves the use of technology to perform tasks with minimal human intervention, and caching is a technique used to store copies of files or data in a temporary storage area to enhance performance. Thus, they do not directly pertain to the ability to scale resources efficiently as demand fluctuates.