WASHINGTON— The U.S. Navy has signed a 3-year $700 Million license with Microsoft to provide them with enterprise-class software.
The Microsoft software will be consolidated and then licensed to the Navy. A statement from the U.S. Navy reads,
Per the recently signed Microsoft Department of the Navy enterprise licensing agreement, all procurement of Microsoft brand software licenses …must be acquired through the Microsoft DON enterprise licensing agreement (ELA) if that product is offered by the DON ELA.
The consolidation of the licenses is due to new rules prohibiting individual software licenses. However the Navy maintains that a consolidated Microsoft license is better, saying….
{it} consolidates previous Microsoft enterprise licenses; and, therefore, optimizes cost savings by leveraging the full purchasing capacity of the department.
The software license between Microsoft and the Navy has been confirmed to be valid up until 2015.
Microsoft has yet to release a statement.
Microsoft had previously announced it will provide an update for lower-end hardware with greater limitations. The so-called Tango update was also targeted at third world markets…. Microsoft reasoned that Tango would expand the 
