A “fully automated, elastic third-wave cloud that consists of a combination of automated services and scalable data” is describing a modern, highly intelligent cloud computing model often referred to as a third‑wave cloud.

Quick Scoop: Core Idea

In simple terms, it is a cloud environment that can configure, optimize, and scale itself with minimal human input, using automation, elastic scaling, and data-driven services to run applications efficiently. It combines automated cloud services (like deployment, monitoring, scaling) with infrastructure and data platforms that grow or shrink instantly based on demand.

What “Fully Automated” Means

  • Most operational tasks (provisioning servers, configuring networks, deploying apps) are handled by automation frameworks instead of manual work.
  • Uses practices like Infrastructure as Code and CI/CD pipelines to repeatedly and reliably roll out changes.
  • Monitoring and remediation can trigger automatically (for example, restarting failed services or shifting traffic) without waiting for an engineer.

Think of it as a data center that runs itself according to policies you define, rather than tickets and manual scripts.

What “Elastic” Means

  • Resources (compute, storage, network, databases) can automatically scale up when traffic spikes and scale down when it drops.
  • Includes auto-scaling groups, serverless functions, and managed databases that adjust capacity in real time.
  • This elasticity keeps costs in check while maintaining performance under unpredictable workloads.

Example: An app that suddenly gets a surge of users will have more containers or functions spun up automatically, then removed once traffic falls.

Why It’s Called “Third-Wave Cloud”

The term “third-wave cloud” is not a strict industry standard, but it is used to describe a newer stage of cloud evolution beyond basic virtual machines and simple managed services.

Typical characteristics include:

  • Deep integration of AI and machine learning for predictive scaling, anomaly detection, and optimization.
  • Heavy use of containers and microservices, often orchestrated via platforms like Kubernetes, to increase portability and agility.
  • Support for hybrid and multi‑cloud strategies, connecting on‑premise, public cloud, and edge environments.
  • Strong focus on data platforms (data lakes, streaming pipelines) that can handle very large, fast‑changing datasets.

In some learning and certification materials, this phrase appears as a conceptual exam question rather than a brand name, pointing to this modern, container‑ and automation‑heavy cloud model.

“Combination of Automated Services and Scalable Data”

This phrase underlines that it’s not just about compute, but about services plus data:

  • Automated services : managed databases, message queues, monitoring, CI/CD, security scanners, serverless runtimes that are all orchestrated automatically.
  • Scalable data : data lakes, warehouses, and streaming systems that grow transparently as data volume and velocity increase.
  • Microservices and containers : each service can be deployed, updated, and scaled independently, often on a container-based architecture.

This combination lets organizations ingest, process, and analyze continuously growing data streams while the platform adjusts itself in the background.

Multiple Viewpoints on the Term

  • Conceptual/academic view : A paradigm where automation, elasticity, AI, and data platforms converge; often used to explain the “next generation” of cloud architecture in courses and whitepapers.
  • Vendor-neutral view : A pattern you can implement on major platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) using their automation, serverless, and data services.
  • Marketing/analyst view : “Third-wave cloud” as a label for cloud offerings that promise self‑optimizing, data‑centric, AI‑assisted operations.

Despite the different angles, they all revolve around the same central idea : highly automated, elastic, data‑driven cloud environments.

Direct Answer in One Line

The fully automated, elastic third‑wave cloud that consists of a combination of automated services and scalable data is an advanced cloud computing model (often called a third‑wave cloud) that uses automation, elasticity, and data‑centric services—frequently via container‑based architectures—to self‑provision, manage, and scale applications and data workloads with minimal human intervention.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.