With the Obama administration touting plans to boost the federal government's use of cloud computing, two specialists in government hosting are expanding their alliance to target this opportunity.
CSC and Terremark Worldwide (TMRK) said Tuesday that they will team to offer cloud computing services to the U.S. government in Terremark's NAP of the Capital Region in Culpeper, Va. CSC is the anchor tenant in the first phase at the NAP, which was built by Terremark and opened last year. The two companies announced a partnership last May when the Culpeper site opened, and have now expanded that relationship to focus on cloud computing.
"Terremark and CSC look forward to delivering a portfolio of cloud computing resources that will allow our government customers to implement IT services for mission-critical applications in minutes, not days," said Jamie Dos Santos, president and chief executive officer of Terremark Federal Group. "Instead of buying costly, cumbersome hardware, this offering provides the customer access to a resource pool of processing, storage and networking that can be provisioned on demand, all from Terremark's state-of-the-art facility in Culpeper, ensuring the security and reliability of the customer applications and data."
In the new cloud initiative, Terremark will provide a secure cloud computing environment, while CSC will add services that include program management; IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) integration; service design, security integration and certification.
Security is a major focus of the NAP of the Capital Region, which was designed around the requirements of federal customers. The data center is ringed with a 10-foot-high fence topped with barbed wire, which stands at the outer edge of a 150-foot security perimeter populated with large earthen berms to slow intruders. The front entrance to the facility is protected by a 14-inch thick wall of solid concrete. All staff and visitors must pass through an enclosed “man trap” and several layers of biometric security before entering the facility.
"Our clients are faced with the need to provide secure solutions for sensitive and classified information for both our citizens and warfighters," said Ashley Smith, president of CSC's Information Technology Infrastructure Solutions (ITIS) division. "Through this alliance, we can implement the latest capabilities in cyber security to meet constantly changing threats."
