SIGNAL Executive Video: Wrapping Software Licensing in a Blanket Purchase Agreement

Nothing in the field of information technology is more dynamic than software development. For consumers, individual personal mobile communications devices are constantly upgraded by weekly downloads of new apps. For large organizations such as the military services, vital information systems must be upgraded repeatedly and quickly, lest they enter the world of obsolescence. And, when it comes to security, obsolescence could be the death knell for any national security organization in a time of crisis. Upgrading security across the breadth of a military service poses several challenges. For the U.S. Navy, one approach to ensuring it receives the most up-to-date security software capabilities available is a blanket purchase agreement. Advocates say it provides software licenses, hardware, subscription renewals and maintenance services to the service efficiently and without balky procurement procedures.

Discussing how this type of blanket purchase agreement can serve software licensing needs for a U.S. military service are: Vincent Holtmann, director of Defense Department and federal system integrator accounts for Thundercat Technology; and Chris Townsend, vice president of federal at Symantec. Vince is a U.S. Air Force veteran, and he has more than 20 years of experience aligning cybersecurity, DevSecOps, cloud, compute, infrastructure and data storage solutions for customers. Chris focuses on helping federal customers improve their security positions, drawing on nearly two decades of experience in the private sector.