Define “containerization” in the context of cloud computing.

Containerization in the context of cloud computing refers to the practice of packaging applications and their dependencies into isolated containers. This approach allows developers to bundle all the necessary components, such as libraries, configuration files, and binary executables, required for an application to run smoothly in any environment.

By ensuring that the containers encapsulate everything the application needs, containerization contributes to greater consistency across different computing environments, whether it's a developer's local machine, a testing environment, or a production server in the cloud. This encapsulation reduces issues related to discrepancies in software environments and eliminates the "it works on my machine" problem, facilitating smoother deployments and scaling.

While large datasets management, virtual machines technology, and network protocols are essential aspects of cloud computing, they do not specifically capture the essence of containerization, which is focused primarily on application packaging and isolation.