The signing also coincided with the official opening of the Microsoft Bahrain office, Jean-Philippe Courtois, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) said. Under the agreement, the Bahraini government will now deploy the Microsoft platform for desktop applications such as Windows 2003 and Office 2003 along with collaborations tools, in use by the different departments, of Microsoft e-mail (Exchange 2003), Microsoft Mobile and the Microsoft Share point Portal and Intranet solution, he explained in a press conference.
He refused to reveal the value of the deal, saying it was a "confidential contract."
"The government works towards enhancing its efficiency in order to provide well-integrated and efficient services to businesses and citizens," said Sheikh Mohammed bin Ateyyatullah Al Khalifa, head of Bahrain's Bureau of Central Statistics, which is supervising the E-government initiative.
The initiative has already been taken and is targeted for completion in December 2004, Sheikh Mohammed told Gulf News.
"Microsoft has played a major role in this initiative. A significant investment has been made to create a strong technology backbone that will support all our business processes and we believe that we will benefit greatly in terms of increased productivity, better collaboration, tighter integration and faster processing by adopting Microsoft software and solutions," he said.
Courtois said the new Bahrain office underlined Microsoft commitment to the growth of the IT industry in Bahrain. "Bahrain is one of the leaders in the development of the IT industry in the region, which is the fastest growing sector in Microsoft overall business," he added.
Quelle: Gulf News
