Dubai Government Signs Agreement with Microsoft

[Ahmed Omair <ao@akunet.org>]

Dubai Government Signs Licensing Agreement with Microsoft 

Dubai government doubles IT investment over next three years, signs
three year enterprise agreement with Microsoft to license software for
about 18,000 desktops in public departments 

DUBAI: July 6, 1999 

The Dubai government, which reportedly decided to double its investment
in information technology, has signed a three year volume licensing
agreement with Microsoft Gulf and Eastern Mediterranean (GEM). 

The Master Select Agreement will see up to 18,000 desktops in 22
government departments qualified for volume license discounts on
Microsoft software products over the next three years. 

"Our absolute objective in signing this agreement was to use the large
economies of scale available to us to offer a desktop computing platform
to government departments which gains the best value for them," said
Thani
Alzaffin, IT director at the Ruler's Court. "We want to ensure the
deployment of the latest technologies across government, and build an
infrastructure for growth. In that process, we are doubling our IT
investment over the next three years." 

The Ruler's Court plays a role in assisting government departments in
their use of resources such as information technology. Working in a
consultative capacity, the Centralized IT organization based in the
Court recommends standardized platforms and makes resources available to
the government departments which provide services, in their turn, to
businesses and the public in Dubai. 

The Ruler's Court had originally signed a Microsoft 'Select' agreement
in early 1996, but has now committed to an expanded licensing scheme,
which gives "significant benefits to our government departments"
according to Alzaffin. 

"Dubai's commitment to technology is driving its regional leadership in
this field," said Abdullatif Al Mulla, large accounts sales manager at
Microsoft GEM. "We are proud to have been able to meet the government
team's expectations with this agreement, and will be working hard to
ensure that we continue to deliver solutions which meet the government's
information technology needs." 

"We are pleased to be working with Microsoft," said Alzaffin. "We
appreciate the scale of the company's commitment to the Arab market and
we recognize the technology investments and achievement which it has
made towards Arabic software. Microsoft's capability in this regard was
a major differentiator for us." 

Across Dubai's Government, Microsoft Office has become the standard
product in use for office automation on the desktop side while, on the
server side, Microsoft technology has made a strong penetration in areas
like operating system, messaging, relational databases, software
development and internet tools. 
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Ahmed Omair                   Internal: 3437
Technical Support (Internet Services)
The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
Tel.:  0092-21-4930051  Fax: 0092-21-4934294
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