The Department of Veterans Affairs and Microsoft have entered into a five-year enterprise agreement that will give the agency access to all of Microsoft’s current and emerging technology.
“After considerable deliberation and working very closely with Microsoft, we are pleased to have constructed a unique and cost-effective Enterprise License Agreement for a full array of Microsoft products and services,” said Charles De Sanno, executive director of Enterprise Systems Engineering for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“This agreement allows VA to continue its longstanding, strategic relationship with Microsoft as a key technology partner while providing value and flexibility for our rapidly changing needs in this new era of datacenter, cloud and mobility.”
Those technologies include Windows 7, Windows Server 2012, Microsoft SQL Server 2012, Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft System Center 2012, Bing Maps, the full suite of Microsoft Visual Studio developer tool and more.
As part of the enterprise agreement, the VA is also continuing its investment in a data warehousing, big data analytics initiative called the “20 Domains in 18 Months Challenge.”
Using Microsoft SQL Server, the project has consolidated the VA’s entire analytics infrastructure under one roof, in addition to establishing a state-of-the-art analytic and scientific computing environment to mine its massive health information database for discovery and business value—supporting initiatives such as patient safety, organizational performance and the discovery of new and better treatments for veterans.
