Hewlett-Packard (News - Alert) Co. has signed a contract worth over $200 million with the Army to provide an Army Private Cloud service for active troops in an effort to help the government conserve resources.

“Created by the U.S. Army Program Executive Officer for Enterprise Information Systems (PEOEIS), Army Private Cloud (APC2) was developed to remedy urgent needs in the government: achieve cost savings and improve IT security through data center consolidation,” said HP officials. “HP’s proven leadership and expertise in data center consolidation and cloud computing meets these challenges head on by reducing costs, offloading risk and running IT operations more efficiently and securely.”

Cloud computing has become a new form of communication that is slowly integrating with residential homes, businesses and other enterprises. The service provides shared resources, software and information to computers throughout a network – allowing end users to access the cloud based applications through a web browser, desktop and mobile application.

The idea behind cloud computing is to allow users the ability to access applications and data helping the user perform the same or better services than without it. “Use of the APC2 vehicle allows you to reduce your procurement cycles and achieve optimum pricing through pre-competed, pre-qualified vendors,” officials said. “HP delivers industry-leading IT solutions to government and private-sector organizations around the world.”

HP has been a government partner for almost 50 years, trusted to transport data, software and other materials to over 400 governmental clients in 31 countries. The new contract with the Army is for one year with the potential to extend it for an additional four years.

The Army plans on making the switch to cloud computing to help eliminate some costs associated with equipment and data centers.

HP said with its experience, it gives them a special view of storing data. “This depth of this experience gives us unique insight into government concerns around security, cost reduction and reliability. We have exceptional expertise in the complexities of technology-enabled policy and mission success.”