WP 0
Business model: A business model must be developed and established that ensures the independent operation of the bwCloud-OS in the long term.
Project management: A centrally established project management team must be set up for the “bwCloud 3” project to take charge of overall coordination of the project, communication with the funding agency, project controlling, organization of cooperation, monitoring of the delivery of work results, and technical management of the team.
Operational metadata: For the bwCloud-OS state service, the foundations for accounting (resource billing) and reporting must be created, and the collected data must be processed for various purposes, such as billing for services, usage statistics, or determining responsibilities for vulnerable or compromised VMs.
WP 1
Information security and data protection in the bwCloud-OS are to be implemented to an appropriate extent based on the “BSI: Security Recommendations for Cloud Computing Providers.” On the one hand, the data and applications of bwCloud-OS users (students, faculty, researchers, etc.) and the bwCloud-OS infrastructure must be protected; on the other hand, no threat may emanate from the bwCloud-OS.
WP 2
The higher education sector must also do its part to help Baden-Wuerttemberg achieve climate neutrality. There is significant potential for savings in the IT sector, particularly in data centers.
In the further development of the bwCloud-OS, environmental sustainability is to play an important role alongside user-friendliness and security. By consciously promoting and utilizing an environmentally sustainable IT infrastructure, universities can make a major contribution to achieving the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and serve as role models.
WP 3
This work package covers the development and operation of various services to be run on the bwCloud OS platform. These include support for Windows platforms, meeting specific requirements in the field of computer-aided engineering (CAE), the integration of campus and learning management systems, the connection of virtual desktop infrastructures, and support for disaster recovery. The goal is to provide a powerful and versatile cloud infrastructure for universities and research institutions.
WP 4
Currently, support for the bwCloud-OS is primarily provided on request and is limited to technical assistance with the infrastructure. Academic and content-related support is not currently planned, but will be expanded in the future to strengthen integration into the academic context.
Special offerings for research, teaching, and infrastructure, including proactive support measures, are to be developed for interested users and projects. In addition, support will be more closely coordinated and synchronized with other state services and, together with the “bwHPC-S5” project, further developed into integrated support for all state services within the framework of the state strategy.
One component of this support is providing a platform for FAQs, guides, and examples for end users. (This has been available since November 2025 as the bwCloud-OS User Wiki.)
WP 5
This work package lays the groundwork for many of the services specified in WP 3 and for the technical bwCloud OS extensions required for WP 1 and WP 2. Among other things, it aims to enable a multi-cloud overall architecture (WP 5.1), create a web portal, app store, and API (WP 5.3), establish basic services (e.g., DFN certificates via the ACME protocol, dynamic DNS services for Kubernetes or other containerization environments, etc.) (AP 5.2), provide platform services in the APP Store (AP 5.4), enable the integration of various storage systems of the BaWü Data Federation (AP 5.5), establish a virtual desktop infrastructure (as graphical environments for research and teaching) (AP 5.7, AP 5.8, and AP 5.9), and providing OpenStack components for the optimal operation of container environments (e.g., Kubernetes).
Many of these sub-work packages significantly lower the barrier to entry and promote usability through concrete services.
WP 6
As part of this work package, the existing bwCloud-OS (Gen2) hardware will undergo a comprehensive overhaul and modernization. The operating model will also be updated in areas such as the operating system, virtualization, and monitoring, and the system infrastructure will be enhanced to enable the integration and operation of GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) resources and other components.
Head of Project Management:
Teresa Ortega
Universität Mannheim
Universitäts-IT
L 15, 1–6
68161 Mannheim
Email: koordinierungsstelle@bwcloud-os.de