Oracle to allow Army to transfer product licenses

Oracle Corp. has granted the Army permission to transfer Oracle product technology licenses across the service at no additional cost.

The Army owns more than 225,000 Oracle database licenses. The company's decision to waive license restrictions means the Army can transfer unused licenses to other organizations in the service. Additionally, the Army estimates it will realize at least $13.4 million in cost savings over the next five years from not having to repurchase licenses.

Oracle licenses are used for a variety of purposes?from tracking personnel claims to satellite communications used to support troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"With upcoming Base Realignment and Closure recommendations and reorganizations, this ability to transfer licenses will prove to be valuable [by] avoiding the purchase of new and duplicative licenses," according to an Army Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems release.

In other Army news, the 3rd Army Small Computer Program Commodity Buy for personal and notebook computers, which ended Sept. 30, has already yielded the service $14.5 million in savings. The next buy will occur in the February-March 2007 timeframe, using the Army Desktop and Mobile Computing-2 contract vehicle.

Since the Army started its commodity buys in September 2005, the Army has saved more than $36 million.

Dawn S. Onley is a staff writer for Washington Technology's sister publication, Government Computer News.