In order to provide up-to-date software products for its employees’ workstations and to enable their regular updating, NWT entered into a corporate agreement with Microsoft for Microsoft software licensing. The agreement is within the framework of Microsoft’s corporate licensing program known as Enterprise Agreement Subscription (EAS), intended for large business entities willing to select the Microsoft platform as their corporate standard, and is scheduled for three years.

      This agreement provides for purchase and installation of licensed versions of latest Microsoft products for all personal computers available (several thousand), and for additional computers to be purchased within the term of validity of the agreement. Under the EAS agreement, Microsoft offered NWT special price terms for Microsoft software, and distribution of the license fees over three annual installments.

      Under the agreement, NWT will get the latest news on Microsoft products, and update Microsoft software versions on NWT employees’ workstations. In addition, cooperation of NWT and Microsoft Rus implies training of NWT employees and support of Microsoft software.

      “The signing of a company-wide license agreement is a splendid opportunity for integrated development,” says Birger Sten, General Manager of Microsoft Rus LLC. “This way, the company can efficiently satisfy its needs for information security, management quality improvement, and building a reliable IT infrastructure in general. By selecting the Microsoft platform as the corporate standard and signing the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement Subscription, North-West Telecom will be able to fully utilize the advantages of up-to-date software.”

       “Implementing its corporate projects, North-West Telecom OJSC has always adhered to the use of “clean-license” software as its principle,” declared A. G. Yakovkin, IT Director of NWT. “An agreement for Microsoft software licensing will mean not only optimized new job creation costs in the Company’s subsidiaries, but also another proof of complete legality of the software used, which is an indicator of our Company’s open, fair, and good faith information technologies policy.”