The United States Department of Defense is securing its staff with Microsoft’s Windows 8, Office 2013, and SharePoint 2013 Enterprise.
Although Windows 8 hasn’t exactly become the biggest hit with consumers yet, The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is already signing up 75 percent of all DoD personnel.
From the official announcement:
In an effort to modernize technology infrastructure, reduce costs and foster new levels of cross-agency collaboration, the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) are expanding access to Microsoft solutions by entering into a transformative three-year Joint Enterprise Licensing Agreement for enterprise licenses and software assurance.
Although the DoD already has a relationship with Microsoft, the decision to embrace Windows runs counter to the recently established trend of government agencies flocking to Apple’s iOS platform.
“There’s a move afoot throughout the department to bring about efficiencies in the [information technology] world,” David L. DeVries, DoD deputy chief information officer, said Friday. “We took a long, hard look at it … realizing that the Department of Defense relies upon the network and upon information technology to do its business.”
Not surprisingly, Microsoft is both thrilled and honored to secure the deal.
“Microsoft has longstanding relationships with the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force and DISA, and we are honored to expand our support of ongoing technology modernization efforts across all three organizations,” Tim Solms, general manager of Microsoft Department of Defense Business, says.
