HP Awarded NASA Cloud Hosting Contract
Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2011 in "Web Hosting News"
HP recently announced that its enterprise services unit was awarded $2.5 billion in a newly drafted contract with NASA. The deal is for a fixed price and will require HP to provide user desktop services that will improve the efficiency at NASA while allowing employees to easily communicate ideas across a secure computing environment. The contract is set for four years with two, three year optional extension periods.
Upgrading NASA’s Entire Infrastructure
This project will be a consolidated end-user program in which HP will upgrade NASA’s entire infrastructure through the deliverance of a suite of computing services and devices to over 60,000 end-users. The process will require HP to provide, maintain and manage a variety of computing options, an advanced level of customer support and connect all NASA facilities in the United States to improve productivity and implement cost savings.
Focusing on Security
The cellular seat and computing services will be designed with a focus on security and collaboration to allow all NASA employees to share information in a safe and reliable environment.
Evolving NASA’s Information Technology
According the to the Senior Vice President and General Manager of HP Enterprise Services, this contract will assist with the evolution of NASA’s information technology platform and centralize and infrastructure allowing for agency-wide availability and a significant improvement in security and manageability. HP will utilize its industry knowledge to support this transition as easily and seamlessly as possible.
Incorporating Smaller Businesses
HP will be working in conjunction with numerous smaller businesses to ensure NASA’s small business participation guidelines are met and enforced. This contract will be developed and managed by the NASA Shared Services Center in Stennis, Mississippi and will become functional across all NASA facilities in the United States.
The Development of OpenStack
This is not the first information technology project given to an outside company. This past July 2010, NASA partnered with Rackspace, a popular web hosting provider, to develop OpenStack, an open-source cloud platform created to guide an emergence of technology standardization and interoperability within the cloud. The platform integrates technology used in powering the NASA Nebula Cloud Platform.
Since HP is a leading developer of innovative computing technology, they will greatly assist some of the top scientists, engineers and experts in the world. With a high performing, centralized, visible computing space, information will be transferred quicker and more efficiently thus allow for the quicker development of ideas.
