What does 'fully managed' mean in the context of BigQuery?

In the context of BigQuery, 'fully managed' means that Google manages the underlying infrastructure and resources required to operate the data warehouse. This includes handling provisioning, scaling, patching, and backup management, which allows users to focus on querying and analyzing data without worrying about the technical challenges involved in maintaining the system.

Since BigQuery is a serverless data analytics service, users benefit from automatic resource allocation and optimization, ensuring that they can scale their computing needs seamlessly without manual intervention. This allows organizations to leverage BigQuery’s powerful querying capabilities while reducing the operational burden that would otherwise be necessary if they had to manage the infrastructure themselves.

In addition, the 'fully managed' aspect also contributes to high availability and resilience, enabling users to access their data whenever needed without the downtime often associated with traditional data management systems.