Microsoft's Ballmer and Aussie Defence ink cosy new agreement

Stan Beer
Sunday, 27 May 2007 14:39

IT Industry - Deals

It appears that Linux and FOSS are two concepts that have yet to penetrate the conciousness of the inner sanctums of key Australian Government agencies. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer last week met with the Australian Department of Defence, to sign a joint agreement reaffirming the "strong relationship" between the two organisations.

The Australian Government sector - Federal and State - is by far the nation's biggest single user of IT hardware and software, accounting for more than 40% of all sales each year. The annual IT budget for Department of Defence is around $700 million, supporting 90,000 desktops and notebooks and 5,000 servers.

During a lightning visit to a Australia last week by the Microsoft CEO, the new agreement was signed between Mr Ballmer and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defence, Mr Peter Lindsay MP.

The new agreement further entrenches Microsoft in the privileged position it holds within Australia's defence establishment to the detriment of open source technologies.

“We have a significant foundation already in place with Defence through the Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) we signed in 2000,” said Mr Ballmer.

“By continuing to deploy Microsoft technologies, Defence will be able to simplify its operating environment, reduce integration risks, effort and costs into the future.”

In addition to the ELA Microsoft signed a successful Security Cooperation Program (SCP), agreement with the Australian Government in 2006, which is administered through the Defence Signals Directorate.  The SCP outlined engagement involving cooperative security activities in the areas of computer incident response, attack mitigation and citizen outreach.  Defence’s relationship with Microsoft also includes commercial and collaborative planning, research and development activities and premier support services. 

“These agreements show that our relationship is not just about software, we are partnering with the Department of Defence to help protect Australia’s critical communication infrastructure, and free them to focus on its primary directive to protect the country,” said Mr Ballmer.

In 2003, the Australian Government also became a signatory to Microsoft’s Government Security Program, which gives governments controlled access to Microsoft Windows source code and other technical information for the Windows platform.