Why is Bill Gates meeting with Dept. Of Homeland Security?
 

Microsoft Gets Army Contract
By InternetNews.com Staff

Microsoft Corp. won the single largest software contract to date from the U.S. Army and will now provide software for nearly 500,000 personal computers, according to published reports.

The six-year deal is reportedly worth an estimated $471 million. The Army will buy the software from a Microsoft reseller, Softmart, based in Downingtown, Pa.

The deal is evidence that even governments agencies and municipalities are embracing the trend to standardize software technologies in order to save money. The Army estimates it will save from $50 million to $100 million compared with what it likely would have spent over the same six-year period, according to a CNET report.

Meanwhile, analysts reacted bullishly to the news. Charles Di Bona, software analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said in a research report that the deal would most likely add $16.6 million per quarter of "high-margin (in the range of 89 percent) revenues and add $0.001 per quarter to EPS," Reuters reported.

Officials from Microsoft and Softmart weren't available for comment.

For Microsoft, the Army contract also represents a chance for it to redeem itself. Despite its efforts to step up software sales to governments, Microsoft's own track record on security has been its greatest detractor, especially in the wake of a renewed focus on terrorism and national security.

On the heels of the U.S. House's passage of a $30 billion budget for the Department of Homeland Security, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates met with lawmakers as well as Bush administration officials including Vice President Dick Cheney and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to discuss technology and security, according to the Associated Press.

Gates described efforts to improve the security and reliability of Microsoft software under its Trustworthy Computing campaign.

Gates made his comments at a conference sponsored by the Information Technology Industry Council and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

Why?


"The six-year deal is reportedly worth an estimated $471 million."


:)

Microsoft is top notch when it comes to security. Would you expect anything less from our gov't? :Graucho

So is the army really interested in security if they are going to use Windows PC's?

Coming soon - Xbox Powered Patriot Missiles!