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The Air Force has entered contracts with Microsoft to consolidate 38 software licenses and up their security.

Air Force CIO John Gilligan says that the Air Force is conferring with the Defense Department over the agreement. The agreement is supposed to save the Air Force more than $100 million directly and a significant amount in indirect costs over the next 6 years.

"The major driver was probably security," Gilligan said. "We predominantly rely on commercial hardware and software. We were spending more money patching and fixing..."

"...We can't stand the vulnerability of having a flaw that doesn't get patched and [then gets] exploited at the wrong moment," he commented.

Dell looks to be the supplier of hardware in the agreement. According to general manager of Microsoft Federal, Curt Kolcun, Dell will be the the "large account reseller".

"By consolidating purchases of software and hardware products across its enterprise, the Air Force will be able to enhance IT operations globally through better management, policies and planning," Kolcun said.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other Joint Combatant Commands are supported by this agreement as well.

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