FORT GORDON, Ga.(January 15, 2009) --The U.S. Army Chief of Signal recently signed agreements with two companies which will provide better service to the Soldiers and civilians at Fort Gordon and ultimately on the battlefield.
Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Foley, U.S. Army Signal Center and Fort Gordon commanding general, signed memoranda of agreement with Adobe on Jan. 7 and NetApp on Jan. 8 at Conrad Hall.
The two signings help the Signal Center in its "relentless pursuit of world class training underscoring our mission of having the best, most capable Soldier and civilians," said Foley on Jan. 7.
Barry Leffew, vice president and managing director for government/public sector enterprise Adobe Systems, expressed his company's pleasure in the agreement.
"It's really an honor for Adobe to have the privilege of being recognized and used by the Army," he said.
Mark Weber, president of NetApp United States public sector, echoed Leffew's comments on Jan. 8 and said the Army is the company's largest customer.
He said he looked forward to the collaboration.
"Unless our customers understand how to utilize our product properly, we can't support you," he said.
Mary Hammond, the deputy director for the School of Information Technology, said the signings will provide a cost savings to the government, but that is just the start.
"The real impact will be on the Soldiers and civilians on the ground," she said.
Adobe will provide software. NetApp is a company which makes data storage systems. Both companies will provide training on their products.
Hammond said the success of a similar agreement with Microsoft last year likely spawned the collaboration with the two additional companies.
"Microsoft is going fantastic. It's something we should have done years ago," she said.
Whether additional agreements will be forged in the future remains to be seen. Not just any company can sign a memorandum of agreement with the Army to have its products used, she said.
"It has to have broad scale use on the battlefield," she said.
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