WASHINGTON — The U.S. National Security Agency awarded Hewlett Packard Enterprise a $2 billion contract for high-performance computing capabilities the agency needs to meet its artificial intelligence and data analytics requirements, the company announced Wednesday.
Under the 10-year contract, the intelligence agency will pay to use HPE’s high-performance computing technology as a service. As part of the contract, HPE will build a new service that includes a combination of its Apollo data storage system and ProLiant servers, “which ingest and process high volumes of data, and support deep learning and artificial intelligence capabilities,” according to a company press release.
The contract award will provide NSA with the a secure and flexible platform to “meet their growing data management needs,” the press release stated.
“Implementing artificial intelligence, machine learning and analytics capabilities on massive sets of data increasingly requires High Performance Computing (HPC) systems” said Justin Hotard, senior vice president and general manager, HPC and Mission Critical Solutions (MCS) at HPE. “Customers are demanding HPC capabilities on their most data-intensive projects combined with easy, simple, and agile management.”
The company said NSA could access the service starting in 2022.
Andrew Eversden covers all things defense technology for C4ISRNET. He previously reported on federal IT and cybersecurity for Federal Times and Fifth Domain, and worked as a congressional reporting fellow for the Texas Tribune. He was also a Washington intern for the Durango Herald. Andrew is a graduate of American University.
