HP Snares $249-Million Private Cloud Contract With U.S. Army

Hewlett-Packard has won a $249-million contract from the U.S. Army to provide private cloud services that take advantage of HP's mobile, containerized data centers.

The cloud services will be used by the U.S. Department of Defense and other federal agencies as the Army carries out plans to consolidate its far flung data centers and develop a secure, cost-effective private cloud, HP said in a statement.

The Army intends to use private cloud computing capacity in commercial or government-owned buildings. It will also use HP's Performance-Optimized Data Centers (HP PODs) for contingency operations or when rapid or temporary cloud computing is needed, HP said.

In June 2011, HP introduced PODs, or modular data center containers, which can be designed and delivered in 12 weeks, compared to years for traditional data centers.

HP said its PODs can lower data center costs and solve space and power usage issues by including infrastructure needed to run a business in a packaged container form.

This week, HP said the PODs can be quickly deployed into overseas tactical situations or as flexible additions to U.S.-based computing solutions.

“As a leader in data center outsourcing with extensive experience with the Army and Department of Defense, HP is uniquely qualified to partner with the Army in achieving its IT objectives in both fixed and deployed environments,” said Marilyn Crouther, senior vice president and general manager, U.S. Public Sector, HP Enterprise Services, in a statement. HP could not be reached for further comment.

HP will team with several partners, including Alabama A&M University, to provide a wide range of services.

The services, for both fixed and deployed locations, include network connectivity, information assurance, certification and accreditation support, application migration, private cloud operations and maintenance, supply chain risk management, service support and service delivery.