Defense Dept. Dives Deeper Into H-P's Cloud

Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ Quote) EDS division has clinched a $111 million contract with the Department of Defense (DoD) that could eventually support the U.S. military's ambitious cloud-computing efforts.

Under the terms of the deal, EDS will perform security readiness reviews for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which provides technology infrastructure such as data storage and systems management to the various parts of the DoD.

Earlier this year, DISA signed a deal with H-P to build out its cloud-computing architecture, which is now likely to come under the scrutiny of EDS' security reviews. Dubbed the Rapid Access Computing Environment (RACE), the cloud infrastructure allocates server and storage resources to the agency's clients as they are needed.

RACE is accessed via a Web portal, and has been heralded as a major rubber stamp for the cloud-computing model. Research firm Gartner has already predicted that cloud computing could prove as influential as e-commerce, although relatively few organizations have opened up on their plans to use cloud technology.

In a statement released Monday, EDS confirmed it will work with DISA officials to conduct security reviews on DoD networks, databases, systems and applications. The services giant will also evaluate DoD security policies, which could further boost the department's cloud strategy.

With a number of companies, including H-P, Microsoft (MSFT Quote), IBM (IBM Quote) and Google (GOOG Quote) championing cloud computing, DISA's RACE initiative is being closely watched as a potential benchmark for the technology. New IT projects, however, inevitably require a major security rethink, according to Jeremy Potter, senior analyst at government research specialist Input.