This course introduces you to the core concepts of cloud computing. You gain the foundational knowledge required for understanding cloud computing from a business perspective as also for becoming a cloud practitioner. You understand the definition and essential characteristics of cloud computing, its history, the business case for cloud computing, and emerging technology usecases enabled by cloud. We introduce you to some of the prominent service providers of our times (e.g. AWS, Google, IBM, Microsoft, etc.) the services they offer, and look at some case studies of cloud computing across industry verticals. You learn about the various cloud service models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and deployment models (Public, Private, Hybrid) and the key components of a cloud infrastructure (VMs, Networking, Storage - File, Block, Object, CDN). We also cover emergent cloud trends and practices including - Hybrid Multicloud, Microservices, Serverless, DevOps, Cloud Native and Application Modernization. And we go over the basics of cloud security, monitoring, and different job roles in the cloud industry. Even though this course does not require any prior cloud computing or programming experience, by the end of the course, you will have created your own account on IBM Cloud and gained some hands-on experience by provisioning a cloud service and working with it. This course is suitable for a large variety of audiences - whether you are an executive / manager / student who wants to become familiar with cloud computing terminology and concepts, or someone who wants foundational grounding in cloud computing to start a career in this field or become a cloud practitioner - such as a cloud engineer, developer, analyst, etc. The completion of this course also makes you eligible to earn the Cloud Computing Core IBM digital badge. More information about the badge can be found here: https://www.youracclaim.com/org/ibm/badge/introduction-to-cloud-computing