Ministry of Education, CA and IBM sign one of biggest anti-virus and anti-spyware contracts in Asia-Pacific
Wellington, 12 April 2007 – The Ministry of Education, information technology management software company CA and its
reseller partner IBM have signed one of the biggest anti-virus and anti-spyware software contracts in the Asia-Pacific
region.
As a result of the contract about 150,000 computers and teachers’ laptops in about 2,700 state schools, an estimated 90
per cent of New Zealand’s school computers, will run the CA Integrated Threat Management Suite incorporating CA
Anti-Virus and CA Anti-Spyware software. The software will be free to all state and state-integrated schools and
teachers will also have the option of using CA Anti-Virus 2007 at home.
When the Ministry of Education went to market in 2003 to buy an anti-virus solution on behalf of all state and
state-integrated schools, CA in partnership with IBM won the tender against other anti-virus software suppliers
including Symantec and McAfee. The original three-year contract was for the supply of CA Anti-Virus software to schools.
The new contract also includes CA Anti-Spyware thereby offering schools an integrated threat management system that
protects against viruses and spyware.
CA New Zealand Country Manager Stuart Preston said he believed the contract to be the biggest integrated threat
management software deal in the Asia Pacific region because the New Zealand Ministry of Education had taken an
internationally leading role in centralising the buying of anti-virus and anti-spyware software for such a large number
of schools.
Ministry of Education e-Learning Unit Senior Consultant Douglas Harré said the centrally managed contract would minimise
the hassle and cost for schools of installing and using anti-virus and anti-spyware software.
“Following the 2004 contract most schools are now using CA Anti-Virus software,” said Mr Harré. “They will now be able
to add CA Anti-Spyware by either installing the packaged upgrade available from IBM New Zealand or by working through
their own information technology services providers.”
CA Anti-Virus 2007 will also be available free of charge to teachers for their home use. “Increasingly teachers work on
their computers at home and we needed to be able to ensure they had access to anti-virus software at home”.
Mr Harré said spyware was a growing threat for schools. “The clearly identified threat in the past has come from viruses
trying to infect and damage information held on computers. Spyware is more insidious as it tries to harvest information
like passwords and pin numbers and student information could be compromised. At the most serious end of the scale
spyware can be used for identify theft.”
Mr Preston said the deal would remove costs from schools. “The Ministry of Education has negotiated a deal that has
secured the CA Integrated Threat Management Suite at a fraction of the normal commercial price but the size of the
contract makes it worthwhile for CA and IBM. We are delighted to be making a positive contribution to the education
sector as suppliers.”
Mr Preston said the CA Integrated Threat Management Suite was used extensively by other Government and private sector
organisations in New Zealand including the Inland Revenue Department and Foodstuffs Wellington.
Mr Harré said the 2004 contract with CA had stemmed from Ministry of Education concern that not all schools were able to
cope with computer virus threats. A survey carried out in 2003 showed that around 35 per cent of New Zealand’s 2,700
state and state-integrated schools were operating with no anti-virus software.
“Many of these schools saw software as a discretionary expense or didn’t have the technical expertise to install the
software while others thought they were ‘too small’ to be susceptible to viruses. As a result the schools were operating
with no protection against malicious code or virus penetration. The Ministry wanted to reduce the number of infected
documents being sent from schools.”
Leaving schools to sort out their own computer virus protection had also caused a number of other problems said Mr Harré
including disparities in the cost of anti-virus software per computer paid by each school, the quality of product
installations and the level of protection.
Ends
About CA
CA (NYSE:CA), one of the world's largest information technology (IT) management software companies, unifies and
simplifies the management of enterprise-wide IT. Founded in 1976, CA is headquartered in Islandia, N.Y., and serves
customers in more than 140 countries. For more information, please visit http://www.ca.com.
About the Ministry of Education
The Ministry of Education is responsible for empowering education in New Zealand from early-childhood through to
tertiary. The Ministry’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Unit deals directly with primary and secondary
schools, providing advice and information on the use of information and communication technologies in a wide variety of
curriculum areas. http://www.minedu.govt.nz
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