bCloud: Private & Public Cloud Services

Whether you need a fully managed on-premise private cloud environment, or assistance in using one of the big three public cloud service providers, we can help you get the computing power you need.

Private Cloud Service (On-Premise)

We offer private cloud computing, using servers hosted in the UC Berkeley Data Center and UC San Diego Data Center, through our Cloud Computing Virtual Private Server service. This can be a fully managed cloud service offering, where Berkeley IT can help you set up and manage your cloud services.

We also offer Physical to Virtual (P2V) migrations to the Private Cloud Service. To get started with that, please fill out this form: P2V Request Form.

Public Cloud Service Providers (AWS, Azure, GCP)

The Public Cloud Service provides UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and other affiliated researchers access to computing resources from approved vendors that have agreements in place with the University of California. This is considered a self service cloud offering, as you are expected to engage with the provider, and manage your environment yourself.

Cloud hosting services that currently have agreements with the University of California are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure(Azure) , and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Using an approved provider means:

You get the best pricing negotiated by UCOP and UC Berkeley.
You have consolidated billing allowing you to use a standard Chart String (COA) for service charges.
You function within a shared security model, where the cloud provider provides a certain amount of coverage, but you take on the majority of responsibility. If you are not comfortable with these responsibilities (such as operating system management, account management, firewall management, database management) then consider using a managed Private Cloud Service instead.
You have access to Account Management and Cloud Solution Architects (AWS, GCP, Azure) who can assist with how to use cloud services, optimize costs, and provide technical guidance on best practices, but do not provide an ongoing service model.

Compare Options

Feature	AWS	GCP	Azure (coming soon)
Discounted Pricing	Discount on AWS services Data egress fee waiver Discount on S3 in us-west regions (Except Deep Glacier)	Spending-based discounts for Cloud Storage and Cloud Engine, in addition to any standard applicable sustained use discounts. See the UC systemwide agreement for details (below). Data egress fee waiver. Direct agreement between UC and Google including negotiated terms aligned with UC needs and policy. A direct agreement ensures more control for UC than an external agreement that inserts additional parties between UC and Google.	Discount on Azure services
Single Sign-On (SSO)	All options allow SSO to your cloud environment via CalNet authentication and two-factor.
Billing	All options feature centralized billing. Berkeley IT pays the bill at the end of the month, and then recharges customers via chartstring.
Security	Cloud Security Services via Prisma Cloud (Currently in Pilot Phase). This service will work with AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Additional Vendor Agreement Benefits	Security additions like Cloudwatch logs and basic GuardRails to help protect your environment. AWS Reserved Instance options with additional discounting and flexible, sub-annual terms. Access to solution architects -- AWS staff who can assist with how to use AWS, and provide technical guidance on best practices.	Security practices independently verified and certified against global standards. BAA terms compliant with the law and UC policy, reviewed and endorsed by UC BAA experts, and applicable to both GCP and the existing UC-wide G-Suite for Education agreement (#UCIMP-0109). Access to Google TPUs (10-30x faster than GPUs), and services like AutoML and Cloud ML Engine.	UC has a HIPAA business associate agreement with Microsoft for Azure.
Learn More	Service Definition for AWS UCOP Amazon Web Services (AWS)	Google Cloud Platform (GCP)	Microsoft Azure (Azure)
Provider Contact	Open a ticket: aws-cloud-ticket@berkeley.edu Questions/Comments: bcloud@berkeley.edu	Open a ticket: gcp-cloud-ticket@berkeley.edu Questions/Comments: bcloud@berkeley.edu	Open a ticket: bcloud@berkeley.edu
FAQs	AWS FAQ	GCP FAQ

Get Started with a Public bCloud Service Account

You can request a new or move an existing account under consolidated billing by following these steps:

Fill out the bCloud Central (AWS/GCP/Azure) Request Form to request access to the bCloud Central Service.
Contact us via email at bcloud@berkeley.edu if you have any questions.

We will be in touch to finalize your bCloud Central account setup.