IRS extends Beyond.com's deal
The $15 million contract provides electronic delivery of Microsoft software to 130,000 IRS desktops
The Internal Revenue Service has renewed a $15 million contract with Beyond.com to provide electronic delivery and maintenance of Microsoft Corp. software to 130,000 desktops in 2000.
The service allows the IRS to distribute office product software digitally, a faster and less expensive process than individually loading software computer by computer, said Steven Cooker, the California-based company's vice president of sales.
Some agencies download the software directly from Beyond.com (www.beyond.com), but for security reasons, the IRS "takes our technology in-house, behind their firewall, and distributes it internally," Cooker said.
The government is increasing its digital delivery of software across agencies because it is economical.
"Beyond.com's Enterprise Download technology helps us reduce our total cost of ownership when deploying the latest software, such as Windows 2000," IRS departmental systems branch chief Dan McLauglin said.
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