Cloud giant
IBM - traditionally known as ‘Big Blue’ - has won a contract to supply the US Army with cloud services. IBM, which has headquarters in Armonk, New York, United States, is a global brand traditionally recognized as a software and hardware producer. The company has refocused on the cloud, particularly with its acquisition of SoftLayer in June of 2014. The Army’s contract is reportedly worth $62 million to IBM.
The first year of the Army’s cloud project will involve the migration of around 35 applications to a private cloud. The transition will help the Army counter cyber attacks and save costs on licenses. IBM will provide services under the Defence Information Systems Agency (DISA) Impact Level 5 (IL-5) Provisional Authorization, which covers unclassified information. In the future the company hopes to achieve DISA IL-6 which will allows their services to cover classified and secret information.
“With this project, we’re beginning to bring the IT infrastructure of the U.S. Army into the 21st century,” explained the CIO of the US Army Lt. Gen. Robert Ferrell in a press release on IBM’s website. “Cloud computing is a game-changing architecture that provides improved performance with high efficiency, all in a secure environment.”
"Changing mindset is not an easy endeavor for an enterprise as large as the Army," added Col. John E. Rozsnyai, Chief of Staff for ARNG Affairs and Senior Guard Advisor, US Army Cyber COE - U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence. "It's hard work convincing organizations and agencies that own and operate their own systems and applications to accept that someone else can provide the same or better level of service at a reduced cost."
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