HP wins cloud deal with US Defense Department

HP is to build a cloud computing system for the US Department of Defense

HP has signed a contract to construct a huge cloud computing centre for the US Department of Defense.

The company will construct the facility for the Defense Information Systems Agency (Disa) which oversees IT for the department.

The agency hopes to use the data centre to provide a more flexible and consolidated computing system for the Department of Defense as a whole.

The Rapid Access Computing Environment will be accessed by department employees by way of a web interface. The system will run on HP blade servers and use the company's server and operations management software offerings.

"Disa needed an integrated, easily manageable cloud computing infrastructure to support its test and development systems," said Christine Martino, HP's vice president and general manager of scalable computing and infrastructure.

"HP's unique understanding of large-scale data centre requirements enabled us to provide the ideal balance of solutions and services to create a unified, web-based management system that met their objectives."

Rather than paying for hardware, the agency will be billed for the cloud computing resources and processor cycles used for each task.

The Department of Defense hopes that this will save the expense of purchasing and maintaining multiple hardware units and software licences.