Skip to main content

Help us improve the Digital Marketplace - send your feedback

Databricks, Inc.

Databricks Data Intelligence Platform

The Databricks Data Intelligence Platform integrates data warehouses, data lakes and AI into a unified "lakehouse," supporting diverse data types and AI workloads. Powered by an open-source foundation, it offers cohesive governance and security measures. Its Data Intelligence Engine ensures tailored insights, fostering organisation-wide data utilisation and AI adoption.

Features

  • Real-time reporting for instant data analysis and decision-making.
  • Remote access capabilities for data management from any location.
  • Integrated AI and ML frameworks to boost predictive analytics.
  • Scalable data processing accommodates large, complex data sets efficiently.
  • Unified analytics platform for both data lakes and warehouses.
  • Automated workflows to streamline data processing and analytics pipelines.
  • Advanced security features ensure data integrity and confidentiality.
  • Multi-cloud support for flexibility in cloud service integration.
  • Collaboration tools for team-based data exploration and insight sharing.
  • Comprehensive API support for seamless third-party software integration.

Benefits

  • Accelerate analytics with Databricks' optimized Apache Spark integration
  • Simplify multi-cloud data integration using Delta Lake.
  • Enhance data reliability and quality with MLflow for machine learning.
  • Improve data governance using Unity Catalog for unified data management.
  • Boost performance with Databricks' auto-scaling and optimisation features.
  • Enhance security with Databricks' built-in compliance and encryption.
  • Streamline data engineering workflows with collaborative notebooks.
  • Deploy machine learning models faster with Databricks ML.
  • Gain insights from real-time streaming data with Structured Streaming.
  • Facilitate end-to-end data workflows with comprehensive API support.

Pricing

£674 an instance a year

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at gcloud@databricks.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

2 3 1 8 3 7 1 8 0 0 3 2 9 4 1

Contact

Databricks, Inc. UK Public Sector Sales Team
Telephone: 07838174888
Email: gcloud@databricks.com

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
Yes
What software services is the service an extension to
Databricks assumes existence of a storage layer in the cloud of choice, S3 in AWS, ADLS in Azure or GCS in Google Cloud. Data is both read and written to the storage services within users cloud account.
Cloud deployment model
Public cloud
Service constraints
Databricks operates ontop of cloud storage layer, necessitating data storage in S3 for AWS, ADLS for Azure, or GCS for Google Cloud. It functions through a fleet of VMs within the user's cloud account. Utilizing processes in Databricks incurs costs, encompassing VM usage duration and storage fees for data retrieval from storage into VMs. The buyers should be mindful of these implications to effectively manage expenses associated with compute and storage usage while leveraging the Databricks platform. Whilst the majority of the cloud's virtual machines are available, not every VM is available to be used with Databricks in every cloud.
System requirements
  • Cloud subscription is required
  • Available on AWS, Azure or GCP
  • Data must be stored in S3, ADLS, or GCS
  • Requires a service principal with permissions to create VMs
  • Requires a service principal with permissions to manage storage
  • Each workspace requires two subnets

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Yes, at extra cost
Support response times
It depends on the service package purchased, with response times ranging from within 1 business day, to within 1 hour. The most comprehensive package provides an SLA of under one hour response time for production critical workloads, 24*7*365. The minimum response SLA is less than 1 business day. Weekend support is offered for issues with production workloads only.
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
No
Phone support
No
Web chat support
Yes, at an extra cost
Web chat support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support accessibility standard
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Web chat accessibility testing
Our platform is designed with accessibility in mind, however we have not conducted specific testing with assistive technology users for our chat support. We continuously strive to improve our services and are committed to enhancing accessibility to meet the diverse needs of all our users.
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
Databricks provides tiered support levels to meet the diverse needs of our customers, ensuring optimal platform performance and user satisfaction. Our support structure is designed to offer scalable solutions, from basic problem-solving to advanced technical guidance.

Business Support: Access to our comprehensive knowledge base, community forums, and email support. Suitable for customers with general support needs.
Enhanced Support: Includes all features of Standard Support with the addition of 24/7 phone support and faster response times. This level is ideal for businesses requiring immediate assistance for critical issues.
Production Support: Offers all the benefits of Enhances Support, plus a dedicated Technical Account Manager (TAM). The TAM serves as a proactive and strategic guide, helping to optimize your Databricks deployment and address complex operational challenges.
Additionally, Enterprise customers benefit from the expertise of a Cloud Support Engineer who provides in-depth technical assistance and performance optimization strategies tailored to your specific cloud environment.

Each support level is crafted to ensure that every user, from small enterprises to large corporations, receives the assistance they need to thrive in today's data-driven world.
Support available to third parties
No

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
All Databricks customers receive access to self paced learning on the Databricks Academy, which covers areas such as platform administration, data engineering, analytics and data science. In addition to that, there are options such as "train the trainer", instructor led classes, workshops and hackathons.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
HTML
End-of-contract data extraction
The vast majority of customer data never leaves the customer cloud account. When a customer leaves Databricks, their workspace is deleted within 30 days of workspace or account deletion. Any data contained in the workspace that is not in customer's cloud account can be extracted by the customer at will before the customer leaves.
End-of-contract process
At the end of the committed capacity contract either (a) a renewal may be agreed or (b) the customer's workspace remains accessible but billing reverts to the pay-as-you-go cost model paid through monthly invoices or on a payment card.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
Application to install
No
Designed for use on mobile devices
No
Service interface
Yes
User support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Description of service interface
Databricks' primary interface is through the web UI. This provides an easy-to-use graphical interface to workspace folders and their contained objects, data objects, and computational resources. Interactive development is facilitated through the Databricks notebook, which are similar in concept to Jupyter notebooks, but come with additional features such as automatic versioning, co-presence for collaboration, multi language support, and access controls. There is also a comprehensive API suite for programmatic interactions, which can be accessed by third party tools for orchestrating wider system workflows.
Accessibility standards
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Accessibility testing
Databricks provides a robust, web-based interface that facilitates efficient and precise data management and analysis. Our integrated workspace supports a broad spectrum of data operations, from data science and engineering to business analytics.

Please note, while Databricks strives to provide an accessible platform, specific testing with assistive technologies has not been conducted. We are committed to continuous improvement in this area to ensure our services are accessible to all users, including those utilizing assistive technologies.
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
A comprehensive set of REST APIs covers all aspects of the platform. For example, managing permissions, managing processing jobs, managing compute resources, managing code repositories. These APIs require authentication through a token generated and stored securely within the Databricks platform. Full API documentation is available on the Databricks website.
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
  • Open API (also known as Swagger)
  • HTML
API sandbox or test environment
No
Customisation available
No

Scaling

Independence of resources
Each Databricks workspace is isolated in the customer's cloud environment. This means that all demanding operations (for example using compute resource from cloud provider, writing to cloud storage) are independent from what other customers are doing.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
Within the UI, billable usage metrics are displayed on a per workspace basis. Automatic logging tracks compute resource usage, user auditing, notebook usage, and processing workflow reports. These logs can be configured to be delivered to your cloud storage for further analysis and reporting. Together, the logs allow for security and access auditing, cost optimisations, and identifying high cost users and workloads for further investigation.
Reporting types
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
Government security clearance
None

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
Yes
Data storage and processing locations
  • United Kingdom
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
  • Other locations
User control over data storage and processing locations
Yes
Datacentre security standards
Managed by a third party
Penetration testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Penetration testing approach
Another external penetration testing organisation
Protecting data at rest
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Other
Other data at rest protection approach
Databricks' inherits the physical security policies of the cloud data centers on which it is deployed.

Databricks leverages the physical security policies of the cloud data centers where it is hosted. It ensures data encryption at multiple levels: Control plane data is secured and can optionally use customer-provided keys for additional encryption. This applies to notebooks, secrets, and DB SQL queries. Importantly, most user data resides in customer-controlled storage, which can also be encrypted. Additionally, EBS volumes in Databricks clusters are encrypted by default and can use customer-managed keys if desired, extending to the DBFS root bucket.
Data sanitisation process
No
Equipment disposal approach
A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
Data resides in the customer's cloud storage account. If any data is saved within Databricks, this can be exported by writing the required code.
Data export formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data export formats
  • Any format supported by Spark
  • Parquet
  • Delta Lake
  • Avro
  • JSON
  • Database tables via ODBC / JDBC connectors
  • ORC
  • Any format supported by Pyhton
  • Any format supported by R
Data import formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data import formats
  • DOC
  • XLS
  • JSON
  • PARQUET
  • ORC
  • AVRO
  • Binary
  • Text
  • LibSVM
  • XML

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
Data protection within supplier network
TLS (version 1.2 or above)

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
Databricks does not publish SLA metrics, but availability notification and detail is available via https://status.databricks.com. Databricks cannot provide SLA details in a questionnaire as they are contractual documents managed through the legal process.
Approach to resilience
Databricks ensures resilience and availability of its service through a robust architectural framework and strategic datacenter setups. The service operates on a dual-plane system comprising a control plane and compute plane. The control plane manages backend services within the Databricks account. The compute plane, where data is processed, can be either serverless within the Databricks environment or classic, using resources in the customer's Azure subscription. This allows for natural isolation and enhanced security, as the compute resources in the classic plane are within the customer's controlled environment​​.
For disaster recovery, Databricks employs a comprehensive strategy that includes the use of multiple workspaces and the replication of data across different control planes in different regions. This setup ensures minimal disruption during a disaster, with options for both active-passive and active-active recovery strategies. The active-passive setup involves syncing data from active deployment to a passive one, which can be activated in case of primary region failure. In contrast, an active-active strategy runs processes in both regions simultaneously, offering higher availability but at a higher cost​.
This resilient framework not only ensures that Databricks meets critical business needs but also aligns with best practices for high availability and disaster recovery in cloud services.
Outage reporting
Email alerts and public dashboards. https://status.databricks.com

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
  • Other
Other user authentication
Databricks customers will generally authenticate with their SAML-compliant identity provider, and Databricks supports checks for IP Access Lists or that connectivity occur over private link. Databricks staff must authenticate, MFA, and connect to our VPN to access the production platform.
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Customers manage the permissions for their own users. For Databricks staff access: Databricks personnel cannot access customer workspaces or production systems except under very specific circumstances. Any access requires authentication via a Databricks-built system that validates access and performs policy checks. Access requires that employees be on our VPN, and our single sign-on solution requires multifactor authentication.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Management access authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
  • Other
Description of management access authentication
Databricks customers will generally authenticate with their SAML-compliant identity provider, and Databricks supports checks for IP Access Lists or that connectivity occur over private link. Databricks staff must authenticate, MFA, and connect to our VPN to access the production platform.

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
Users have access to real-time audit information
How long user audit data is stored for
User-defined
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users have access to real-time audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for
User-defined
How long system logs are stored for
At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
BDO
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
18/12/2021
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
Whole organisation covered
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
Yes
Who accredited the PCI DSS certification
BDO
PCI DSS accreditation date
25/10/2021
What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover
Only Available in Azure and AWS.
Available in all regions except Azure Switzerland West.
Serverless workloads are not currently covered for PCI-DSS in Azure.
Most serverless workloads are not currently covered for PCI-DSS. AWS Databricks SQL Serverless workloads are covered under PCI-DSS for AWS us-east-1 and ap-southeast-2 regions only
Cyber essentials
No
Cyber essentials plus
No
Other security certifications
No

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
Yes
Security governance standards
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
Other security governance standards
SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, HIPAA
Information security policies and processes
Databricks has implemented a formal security function with a Chief Security Officer who reports to the CEO and briefs relevant board members. Roles and responsibilities have been defined in Databricks Security Policies. The security policies are based on the ISO 27001 and 27002 standards, and are communicated to relevant parties both annually and upon hire. Databricks Security has defined teams managing compliance, detection and response, security engineering, and offensive security, and works closely with counterparts in legal, vendor management, product security, and engineering. The security program includes responsibility for aligning security to the business and communicating security needs to both the business and Databricks customers.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
Databricks has a formal, documented change management policy that has been communicated to constituents, approved by management and is reviewed at least once per year. Additionally, within the development process, Databricks requires peer review for every code commit -- commits must be merged by a functional owner for that section of code, and release management is performed by a separate team. Databricks releases require two-person approval, pre- and post-implementation tests, verification for potential operational impacts, rollback plans, documentation, and communications. Depending on the nature of the change, changes may go through a security review and/or approval process.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
Databricks has implemented a formal, documented vulnerability management policy and program. The policy is owned by the Databricks CSO, has been approved by management, communicated to constituents, and is reviewed at least annually. Databricks employs an internal team of red hat testers and an external 3rd party to conduct regular penetration testing. We typically perform 8-10 external third-party penetration tests and 15-20 internal penetration tests per year.
Databricks policy requires the remediation or mitigation of critical vulnerabilities within 14 days, high severity vulnerabilities within 30 days, and medium severity vulnerabilities within 60 days.
Protective monitoring type
Supplier-defined controls
Protective monitoring approach
Databricks employs comprehensive protective monitoring processes. Potential security compromises are detected through advanced analytics and machine learning models, scanning vast amounts of log data to identify anomalies and security threats. Upon detecting potential threats, Databricks' incident response team is engaged immediately to assess and respond. The response is swift, leveraging predefined security protocols and continuous monitoring to ensure that incidents are addressed typically within hours, minimizing potential impact and ensuring rapid resolution. This process underscores Databricks' commitment to operational security and robust protective monitoring.
Incident management type
Supplier-defined controls
Incident management approach
Databricks has implemented a formal incident response plan that defines roles, responsibilities, escalation paths, and external communication that is reviewed at least annually. The Databricks Head of Detection and Response is responsible and accountable for managing the incident response program. In addition to the audit logs that are generated from within the Databricks platform (available both to customers and to Databricks Inc for security investigations), Databricks Inc maintains a security incident response team that has access to an internal instance of Databricks that is fed with a wide variety of log sources important to security response including network information.

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Social Value

Social Value

Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Equal opportunity

Fighting climate change

Through 2023, Databricks has undergone an in-depth company-wide carbon measurement and reduction project to understand and minimise our carbon impact. We are partnering with the specialist agency Watershed for this project. We initiated a full data upload on our cloud usage, employee travel, buildings and utilities and other capital and operating expenses into the Watershed platform. We refined our calculations, reviewed a draft report and finalised our initial (internal) carbon footprint report.

We have also appointed a dedicated point-of-contact on EcoVadis questionnaires going forward and completed our initial EcoVadis sustainability assessment. We have been making progress on our EcoVadis assessment over time – in 2018, our score was 20, and in 2021 it was 30, and in 2022 we did not have a score. In March 2023, we completed our latest EcoVadis assessment and received an overall score of 34 as well as a targeted corrective plan. We expect to respond with corrective action plans to address improvement areas identified in our recent assessment and aim to improve our overall CSR performance prior to our next annual EcoVadis submission.

Covid-19 recovery

Databricks is actively aiding the economic recovery post-COVID-19 by creating jobs within its UK subsidiary. With over 400 employees, the company plans to double its size by Jan 2026.

Databricks is investing in data skills in the UK through their University Alliance and by providing free training materials to customers. This initiative aims to bridge the gap for roles requiring hard data skills, as identified by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

During the pandemic, Databricks has collaborated with the NHS and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The NHS Data Access Environment (DAE), underpinned by Databricks, provides secure access to linked information, aiding the NHS's pandemic response. The DAE can be accessed at: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/data-access-environment-dae#analytical-tools (still used actively today)

The former Government Department (BEIS) replaced an Excel-based system for grant applications with a Databricks-backed data management system (DMS). The DMS supports the Covid-19 business support and Green Homes Grant, enabling BEIS to report to the government on grant applications data gathered by local authorities. The cleansed and unified data store can be analysed using machine learning algorithms or dashboards.

In summary, Databricks is contributing to the UK's economic recovery, promoting equality and diversity in the workplace, investing in data skills, and collaborating with key departments to tackle pandemic-related challenges.

Equal opportunity

University Alliance Program -
The Databricks University Alliance invests complementary assets to educators and students for teaching and learning next-generation tools.
We have more than 275 schools enrolled in the program. Eight schools are in the United Kingdom, introducing Databricks' approach to large scale analytics on public cloud resources to 800+ students. This includes the National Innovation Centre for Data by Newcastle University whose mission is to transfer data skills to the workforce. Databricks also offers free training to university students, and in the last 24 months more than 1500 students have taken this training, representing an in-kind donation to university students of more than £1m.
This program will continue to focus on student enablement via our campus student ambassador program that provides mentors and professional development opportunities for interested students, as well as regional workforce development partnerships with local governments and corporations to keep locally trained data science talent local.
Fair and Equal Pay -
We’re proud to be one of the first six organisations certified by Fair Pay Workplace (Syndio). As part of our efforts to achieve pay parity, Databricks underwent a rigorous evaluation of our pay data and practices and committed to staying accountable through ongoing pay equity analyses.
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) -
Our ERGs are designed to foster an inclusive workplace by creating a place for individuals from underrepresented backgrounds (and allies) to come together to build community and support. ERGs are a great way to get involved in making new connections with colleagues and are an opportunity to engage in interactive events all year long. To promote equal opportunity in the workplace. Our ERGs include organised groups for Women's, Black, Latin, Asian, LGBTQ+ Network and Veterans Network

Pricing

Price
£674 an instance a year
Discount for educational organisations
Yes
Free trial available
Yes
Description of free trial
Databricks Community Edition provides unlimited free access to clusters, a cluster manager ,the notebook environment and integrations for BI analysis. The full Databricks platform offers production-grade functionality, such as an unlimited number of clusters that easily scale up or down, a job launcher, collaboration, advanced security controls, and expert support.
Link to free trial
https://community.cloud.databricks.com/login.html

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at gcloud@databricks.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.