The goal of the HAP programme is to assist the IT industry with an approach that can be used by government and private sector organisations to support secure virtualization, compliance checking, cross-domain collaboration, and enterprise management. The use of secure virtualization technologies will also help eliminate the need for multiple classified workstations and servers; as well as enable agencies to achieve their 'green' data centre consolidation goals.

"The NSA's strategic approach to technology recognizes that a secure COTS environment is fundamental to the mission of both government agencies and private sector, offering assured information sharing that is cost effective", stated Todd S. Ramsey, Managing Director for IBM U.S. Federal. "IBM is pleased to continue its support of the NSA for this mission critical programme."

The NSA will offer the new capabilities to government agencies, including the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and the broader intelligence community. IBM will use COTS (commercial off the shelf) software and hardware in order for both public and private sector organisations to take advantage of the investment in these advanced security improvements.