UW-IT is working with campus partners on a five-year cloud migration plan to improve security, increase flexibility, and support innovation across the University of Washington and the world.
Many essential systems still rely on aging, on-premises data centers that cannot scale to meet the growing computing demands of AI. Our strategy delivers a trusted solution with reliable, secure, and future-ready infrastructure that empowers the UW community.
Read on to review the plan’s goals, why UW is adopting cloud solutions, and what that means for faculty, staff, and researchers.
UW-IT supports UW’s mission to preserve, advance and disseminate knowledge, and it believes that modern, secure and agile cloud services will help our community maintain a competitive advantage. This shift also strengthens UW’s ability to drive global impact through collaboration, discovery, and inclusive digital infrastructure.
Benefits of cloud adoption
- Elasticity and economy of scale
- Innovation agility
- Fast-enhancing capabilities
- Rich tools, services, and partner ecosystem
- Sustainability (“Green Cloud”)
- Business resilience
- Security posture
Macro market view
- About 75% of organizations across industries already use cloud computing
- Global market value of cloud computing:
- 2023: $588 billion
- 2024: $676 billion
- 2032: $2.29 trillion
At UW
- On-campus data centers are aging and resource-limited
- Research computing needs continue to grow
- The AI Boom is accelerating demand for processing power
- Cloud adoption supports sustainability efforts and facility consolidation goals
- Future workforce needs skill sets to create and curate cloud environments
- UW can scale research capacity and share discoveries globally
Our cloud-first strategy focuses on lowering costs, improving efficiency, and empowering researchers with powerful, easy-to-access tools.
Enterprise approach
We aim to maximize administrative efficiency and reduce total cost of ownership.
- Cloud-first
- Migrate existing workloads to cloud
- Leverage cloud services for new initiatives
- SaaS Preferred
- Opt for packaged software solutions over custom-built ones
- Upgrade existing custom-built solutions to out-of-the-box SaaS solutions
Research principles
We empower researchers to do best-in-class, collaborative research work.
- Flexibility First
- Cost-effective high-performance computing
- Best-fit cloud solutions
- Comprehensive toolsets and computing capabilities
- Usability Focused
- Enable researchers to focus on discovery rather than infrastructure
Starting from August 2024, we aim to achieve the following milestones to move from on-premises data centers to the cloud:
- Within three years, expand hybrid and multi-cloud environments to meet diverse research needs, including AI
- Within three years, build a cloud-proficient workforce through targeted recruitment, training, and development programs
- Within five years, migrate most enterprise services to the cloud or replace them with third-party SaaS solutions
Shifting to the cloud introduces challenges, but UW-IT is working closely with our campus partners to design a cloud-first strategy that meets UW’s needs. Key risks include:
- Customer acceptance and onboarding
- Existing system complexity
- Data privacy and regulatory compliance
- Cost management and optimization (FinOps)
- Skill gaps in the workforce
The Azure Migration Program is a key step in this shift, laying the foundation for a more resilient computing environment and expanding access to cutting-edge technologies that enable global research discovery and collaboration. By moving to the cloud, UW is accelerating its ability to lead in scientific breakthroughs and extend the reach of its teaching and research missions worldwide.
UW-IT is collaborating with campus stakeholders to ensure a smooth, secure, and strategic cloud transition. Together, we are building the infrastructure to support UW’s global impact by expanding access, accelerating research, and transforming our computing landscape.
We’ll continue to share updates and resources as the plan evolves.
Have questions? Email help@uw.edu and check back on this page for updates.