IBM to collaborate on NSA program

IBM Corp. has won a technology and services contract from the National Security Agency valued at $9.4 million over 15 months to lead a contracting team that will develop the next generation of the spy agency's High Assurance Platform program.

High assurance platforms enable users to access, process and store data with different security levels on a single computer.

Under the terms of the award, IBM and NSA will work together to design and build high-assurance workstations, servers and pervasive computing technology for the program.

The goal is to establish a solution that other government agencies and the private sector also can use for secure virtualization, compliance checking, cross-domain collaboration and enterprise management, IBM said.

Secure virtualization technologies will help eliminate the need for multiple classified workstations and servers, and enable government agencies to meet their green data center consolidation goals, the company added.

IBM will use its expertise in secure virtualization, computing and advanced software technologies to improve cross-domain access and the secure distribution of classified data among agencies. The company also will be responsible for research and design, engineering development, fabrication, and testing and security certification.

The project will use commercially available software and hardware so public and private organizations can take advantage of these advanced security improvements without spending large amounts of money, IBM said.

NSA plans to offer the new capabilities to various government agencies, including the Defense, Homeland Security and Justice departments and the intelligence community.

The IBM team includes General Dynamics C4 Systems, Trusted Computer Solutions Inc., Harris Corp. and Innovative Security Systems/Argus Systems Group.

IBM of Armonk, N.Y., ranks No. 18 on Washington Technology's 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.