Defense contractor General Dynamics has opened a new data center in Westminster, Colo., to provide IT services to the US Department of Homeland Security. The facility is the company’s first data center dedicated to one client.

The data center will provide IT services to DHS’s Citizenship and Immigration Services division, serving as an IT operations center for the division’s Technology Operations and Maintenance Infrastructure Support program.

“As the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that is responsible for overseeing the legal immigration of people into the United States, USCIS is vital in maintaining a secure homeland,” General Dynamics President Daniel Johnson said in a statement.

“The agency processes and verifies applications of those seeking to work and live in the United States, assists those seeking political or humanitarian asylum and manages applications of those seeking foreign adoptions. These functions require a secure, stable information technology infrastructure.”= The company won the contract in 2007.

The IT wing of Falls Church, Va.-based General Dynamics has been around as a system integrator for more than 50 years, according to a company statement. The company provides systems engineering, professional services and simulation and training to clients in a number of government and commercial sectors.

Besides IT, the company plays in the business aviation, land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions, shipbuilding and marine systems.

General Dynamics has recently started litigation against HP subsidiary EDS over a £4 billion contract to provide services to the UK Ministry of Defense, Computer Weekly reported Friday.