U.S. military in Microsoft licensing deal

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Three U.S. military organizations are entering a Joint Enterprise Licensing Agreement with Microsoft to cut IT costs while enhancing IT capabilities.

The U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and Defense Information Systems Agency said the three-year JELA for enterprise licenses and software assurance provides a single vehicle for accessing the latest Microsoft technologies in support of top IT priorities around datacenter consolidation, collaboration, cybersecurity, mobility, cloud computing and big data.

"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," said Tim Solms, general manager, Microsoft Department of Defense Business.

"This agreement enables us to provide the best technology tools to an incredibly broad range of servicemen and servicewomen across the Department of Defense and we are looking forward to implementing to support their mission goals."

All three organizations can begin using the newest versions of Microsoft products, including Microsoft Office 2013, SharePoint 2013 Enterprise and Windows 8.

Microsoft said the ability to standardize on SharePoint 2013 Enterprise will "open new levels of cross-agency information sharing through improved enterprise search and social communications features while powering advanced business intelligence and reporting capabilities."

The accord is the most comprehensive licensing agreement Microsoft Corp. has established with the U.S. Department of Defense, the company said. It was awarded to Insight Public Sector, a division of Insight Enterprises Inc., one of the largest Microsoft large account resellers.