Software licensing saves DOD a bundle

The Army Small Computer Program's use of software licensing agreements has

saved the Army and the Defense Department $677 million in the past two years,

according a service announcement released Thursday.

The Small Computer Program, managed through the Army Communications-Electronics

Command, Fort Monmouth, N.J., took advantage of the Pentagon's organizational

buying power to purchase software at reduced prices.

Tom Leahy, acting chief of the Small Computer Program office, credited

DOD's Enterprise Software Initiative as key to the savings. ESI is a joint

project to identify, acquire, distribute and manage software that is common

across an organization.

"DOD is a big customer for software," Leahy said. "The DOD ESI Steering

Group — under the DOD Chief Information Officer Council — asked vendors,

"Why aren't we getting the same discounts as big corporations?' and then

came up with strategies for how to leverage our buying power to get the

discounts."

Software deals still available for DOD customers include:

* Oracle Database Enterprise Agreement, which offers Oracle Corp. database

software licenses, software maintenance support, training and consulting

services.

* Informix Database Enterprise Agreement, an enterprise license under

renegotiation.

* Sybase Enterprise Agreement, which offers Sybase Inc. software licenses,

maintenance and consulting services.

Deals still available specifically to Army customers include:

* Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, which offers select software licenses

and upgrades.

* Telos/Tovoli Enterprise Management Software, which provides Tivoli

Systems Inc. Enterprise Management Software products and services support

and includes a package of seven Tivoli products.

* Computer Associates Enterprise Management Software Agreement, which

offers Computer Associates International Inc.'s Unicenter Enterprise Software

products.