procurement

  1. Guernsey Replaces Non-Windows 11 Laptops in Major IT Modernisation

    The States of Guernsey has told staff that anyone who needs a laptop for their job will be issued a new machine if their existing device cannot run Windows 11, part of a wider, government‑wide upgrade to modernise endpoints and retire legacy systems — a move that coincides with the States’...
  2. CISA Drafts 2025 SBOM Minimum Elements: Hash, License, Tool Name, Generation Context

    CISA has published a draft update to the Minimum Elements for a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) and opened a public comment period running from August 22, 2025, through October 3, 2025, inviting feedback that will shape an updated, practice-oriented baseline for how software components are...
  3. Southampton Upgrade Coordinator: Campus-wide Windows 11 Rollout

    The University of Southampton’s recent job listing for an Upgrade Coordinator on its Windows 11 programme places a practical, user-facing role at the centre of what will be one of the university’s most visible IT change programmes in years: replacing or upgrading thousands of campus devices to...
  4. Board's Azure-Certified Enterprise Planning Platform Gains Microsoft Solutions Partner Status

    Board’s Enterprise Planning Platform has been formally recognized as a Microsoft Solutions Partner with the Certified Software for Azure designation, a milestone that confirms the product has passed Microsoft’s technical, marketplace and customer-success gates and positions the vendor for deeper...
  5. ThinkStation P5 Review: Xeon W, ECC RAM, Gen5 PCIe for Pro Workloads

    The ThinkStation P5 is at once familiar and a little maddening: a sharply styled, serviceable Intel Xeon workstation that delivers strong mid‑range pro performance, but also exposes a few puzzling platform and procurement choices that matter to IT buyers and creatives alike. In hands‑on testing...
  6. Board Enterprise Planning Platform Earns Azure Certified Software and Solutions Partner

    Board's Enterprise Planning Platform has earned the Microsoft Solutions Partner designation with the Certified Software for Azure badge, a milestone that cements the vendor’s deeper engineering and commercial alignment with Microsoft and positions the product for broader discovery and...
  7. Board Enterprise Planning Platform Earns Microsoft Solutions Partner Azure-Certified Software

    Board’s Enterprise Planning Platform has been recognized as a Microsoft Solutions Partner with the Certified Software for Azure designation, a formal nod that the company’s SaaS planning suite meets Microsoft’s technical and marketplace readiness standards for Azure-deployed enterprise software...
  8. Windows 10 End of Support 2025: Plan Your Windows 11 Migration Now

    Sixty days may feel like a lot — until you remember the work still required to move millions of endpoints off an operating system that will stop receiving free security updates on October 14, 2025. Background Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025...
  9. Managed AI in Canadian Universities: Copilot, ChatGPT Edu, and Responsible Rollout

    Canadian universities are moving quickly to put generative AI into the hands of students, faculty and staff — but the rollout is pragmatic, uneven, and loaded with trade-offs that will shape teaching, research and institutional risk for years to come. Overview Across Canada, flagship...
  10. Cloud AI and Rights: From Unit 8200 Surveillance to Local Governance

    A coordinated pair of stories surfaced this week that together sketch two urgent and contrasting dilemmas at the intersection of technology, power, and public life: investigative reporting that Israeli military intelligence has been using Microsoft’s Azure cloud to store and analyze massive...
  11. Hitachi Vantara VSP One SDS Arrives on Azure Marketplace for Hybrid Cloud Storage

    Hitachi Vantara’s entry of Virtual Storage Platform One Software‑Defined Storage (VSP One SDS) into the Microsoft Azure Marketplace marks a concrete step toward simplifying hybrid cloud storage procurement and, according to vendor claims, cutting cloud storage costs substantially through...
  12. UK to Trial Agentic AI in Public Services with Scan-Pilot-Scale by 2027

    The UK government has announced a national programme to trial agentic AI across public services, inviting frontier AI labs to work with Whitehall teams to build prototypes that could automate routine “life admin” — from filling forms and booking appointments to tailored careers and...
  13. Microsoft AI Contract Automation: Azure Copilot Platform for Enterprise Procurement

    Microsoft’s push to make AI the backbone of enterprise contract automation has moved from proof-of-concept to platform play, blending massive infrastructure bets, partner-led solutions, and an explicit governance narrative — all while forcing painful trade-offs across its workforce and...
  14. Microsoft Ends Online Services Price Tiers: What Enterprises Need to Know

    Microsoft's decision to collapse volume-based price bands for Online Services under Enterprise Agreements into a single, web‑published price is a major commercial shift that will simplify licensing but almost certainly raise bills for many organizations — and reshape how enterprises, partners...
  15. LibreOffice: Is OOXML a Deliberate Lock-In Scheme?

    LibreOffice’s blunt charge that Microsoft is using an “artificially complex” Office XML schema as a deliberate lock‑in tool landed like a splash of cold water—and the splash matters because it exposes how fragile interoperability, user choice, and long‑term digital access really are in a world...
  16. Microsoft standardizes Online Services pricing across A–D (Nov 2025)

    Microsoft has confirmed it will standardize pricing for Online Services sold through its volume‑licensing channels, aligning list prices across Price Levels A–D with the prices shown on Microsoft.com — a change that takes effect for renewals and new purchases beginning November 1, 2025...
  17. Secure OT: Build Robust Asset Inventories and Taxonomies for Critical Infrastructure

    On August 13, 2025, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), together with the National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and several international partners, published detailed guidance aimed at helping...
  18. Copilot vs Gemini: Enterprise AI Pricing, Lock‑in, and CIO Playbook

    Microsoft and Google are not selling "chatbots" so much as they are weaponizing generational artificial intelligence to deepen platform revenue, raise switching costs, and turn productivity into a recurring, high-margin business line — a reality that is already reshaping enterprise IT budgets...
  19. Microsoft Standardizes Online Services Pricing Across EA and MPSA

    Microsoft is standardizing how it prices online services purchased through its volume licensing programs, expanding a single, consistent price across Price Levels A–D to all Online Services sold under Enterprise Agreement (EA) and Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA), with the change...
  20. From World-Class AI Research to Real-World Impact in Canada

    Canada’s world-class AI research and a thriving start-up ecosystem are finally producing measurable, mission-critical deployments — but the transition from lab to large-scale impact still runs up against procurement, regulation, skills and trust barriers that threaten to slow national gains...