What essential characteristics of cloud computing does NIST define?

A low latency network is a desirable attribute for many applications but is not one of the five essential characteristics of cloud computing defined by NIST.

Measured billing is an outcome of "measured service," which is a NIST characteristic; however, "rapid elasticity" is itself a direct essential characteristic.

A standard architecture is a design principle that may be adopted in cloud environments but is not one of the five essential characteristics of cloud computing defined by NIST.

Rapid elasticity is one of the five essential characteristics of cloud computing as defined by NIST, allowing capabilities to be elastically provisioned and released to scale rapidly outward and inward commensurate with demand. This enables resources to be scaled up or down quickly and automatically to meet fluctuating workloads.