McAfee (MFE) today announced it will offer its host-based security solution (HBSS) to Amazon Web Services (AWS) federal government cloud customers. The security technology provider’s HBSS is a security architecture that is deployed throughout the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

HBSS also will serve as the first in a series of software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings powered by InfoReliance, which specializes in McAfee’s migration of existing tools and products to the AWS cloud.

“Our DoD customers said they wanted to transition to the cloud, and we listened,” Ken Kartsen, vice president of McAfee’s federal division, said in a prepared statement. “We’re embracing cloud through strategic investments across our portfolio of network and endpoint cybersecurity technologies so they will be interoperable with AWS.”

Teresa Carlson, AWS’s vice president of worldwide public sector, said she believes McAfee can help DoD customers better manage their resources in the cloud.

“It is important for DoD customers to be able to quickly and easily migrate to the cloud while meeting their mandated security requirements,” she added. “This shared security solution provides additional layers of security to help DoD customers to securely manage resources in the cloud while reducing costs.”

HBSS for AWS will be available for purchase through authorized McAfee resellers beginning this month.

Will more government agencies use the cloud in the future?

Technology research firm Gartner earlier this year named big data and actionable analytics and hybrid cloud computing as two of the key cloud computing technology trends for smart government.

Andrea Di Maio, Gartner’s managing vice president, pointed out the “Nexus of Forces” (cloud, information, mobile and social) could lead more government agencies to search for innovative ways to become more productive and efficient.

“Smart government integrates information, communication and operational technologies to planning, management and operations across multiple domains, process areas and jurisdictions to generate sustainable public value,” he said in a prepared statement.

AT&T (T), meanwhile, noted the federal government could save up to $19 billion with cloud applications and services, yet researchers also found the majority of federal agency leaders currently do not prioritize cloud adoption.

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