Despite a lot of anticipation surrounding the launch of Windows 8, the sales of the new OS don’t seem quite extraordinary. That may be disappointing for Microsoft, who has been hard at work in developing Windows 8. However, a new deal with Department of Defense(DoD) worth $617 million may make things better for the company.
This is the largest deal that Microsoft has ever struck DoD. As per the deal, Microsoft will allow servicemen and servicewomen from Air Force, Army and Defense Information Systems Agency to access a wide range of its products.
The products covered under the deal include Windows 8, Office 2013 as well as SharePoint 2013 Enterprise. In all, Microsoft will be catering to the OS need of nearly 75% of the DoD personnel.
This is a mighty big scoop for Microsoft. The company has experienced rather slower-than-expected sales of Windows 8 and this deal may be just the thing to bump the overall count of Windows 8 licenses being sold. To securely deploy its software products on the DoD machines, Microsoft has been working with both Air Force and Army for quite some time.
DoD originally received bids from seven firms. Eventually, the verdict was given in favor of Insight Public Sector which is a Microsoft products reseller. Commenting on the deal, General Manager of Microsoft’s DoD Business, Tim Solms stated, “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. This agreement enables us to provide the best technology tools to an incredibly broad range of servicemen and servicewomen across the DoD, and we are looking forward to implementing to support their mission goals.”
Source: Microsoft
Hat Tip: Slashgear
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