Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of the public cloud?

The answer indicates that "exclusive user access" is not a characteristic of public clouds. Public cloud environments are designed to serve multiple customers or tenants simultaneously, which is fundamentally illustrated by the concept of multi-tenant architecture. In a public cloud, resources such as servers and storage are shared among many users, allowing for cost efficiency and the pooling of resources.

Exclusive user access typically refers to a private or dedicated environment where resources are restricted to a single organization. This model is characteristic of private clouds or on-premise solutions, which are distinct from the public cloud's shared resources model.

Additionally, public clouds offer features like remote resource sharing, where users can access applications and data from anywhere with an internet connection. Scalability is also a notable feature of public clouds, allowing organizations to easily scale their usage up or down based on demand without the need for significant investment in physical infrastructure. Thus, exclusive user access does not align with the inherent characteristics of public cloud services.