Air Force Invests $1B in Cloud-based UC&C
November 20, 2017
By Paula Bernier
Executive Editor, TMC
The U.S. Air Force late this summer awarded the federal government’s largest ever unified communications and collaboration contract. The winners of the $1 billion cloud deal are Dell EMC, General Dynamics (News - Alert), and Microsoft.
Dell EMC Consulting Services will provide application profiling and migration services. Microsoft Office 365 is the platform to which the U.S. Air Force is moving. And General Dynamics is an aerospace and defense company that provides an array of solutions, including IT ones, to commercial and military clients.
"General Dynamics Information Technology is proud to continue our support to the U.S. Air Force, Defense Logistics Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” said Dan Busby, vice president and general manager at General Dynamics Information Technology Global Solutions Division. “This contract provides a solution for unified communications that accelerates migration to cloud-based IT and communications capabilities while enabling the warfighters to focus on their core missions."
The Air Force, the Defense Logistics Agency, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will receive new UC&C capabilities as part of this effort. About 776,000 end users will be involved.
This is part of the larger Cloud Hosted Enterprise Services, or CHES, program. And it’s expected to improve the agility, efficiency, and innovation of the Air Force’s information technology effort.
"We're grateful for the Air Force's continued confidence in Dell (News - Alert) EMC and our industry partners to expand and further support its IT modernization efforts,” said Steve Harris, senior vice president and general manager at Dell EMC (News - Alert) Federal. “This new contract builds on the foundation and success of Collaboration Pathfinder that launched the department's modernization initiative. Dell EMC has the strengths in cloud, defense and consulting services needed to implement quickly and manage enterprise-scale migrations. We will help deliver a robust CHES infrastructure, enabling the service to focus on mission accomplishment."
Leigh Madden, general manager for U.S. Defense at Microsoft (News - Alert), added: "The CHES contract extends the ability of the Air Force to collaborate across the enterprise. We aren't just delivering a secure productivity solution, we're freeing up resources, so our airmen can focus on mission critical tasks."
Edited by Mandi Nowitz
Article comments powered by