Microsoft has signed a MoU with the Irish government for extended XP support

Feb 18, 2014 10:52 GMT  ·  By
Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft will provide XP support for 12 more months
   Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft will provide XP support for 12 more months

Windows XP will be retired on April 8, 2014 so companies and authorities across the world are struggling to complete their transition to a newer platform until end of support arrives.

The Irish government won’t have enough time to move four critical state departments to modern Windows, so the authorities have signed a deal worth $4.5 million (€3.3 million) with Microsoft for extended Windows XP support.

Basically, Microsoft will provide Windows XP patches to the Irish government for 12 additional months, with the local authorities promising to complete their transition to a newer OS by April 2015.

“The Office of the Government CIO has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft whereby affected organisations can get access to priority security bug fixes for 12 months from April,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying by Silicon Republic.

The signed Memorandum of Understanding comprises four main state departments, as it follows: Health, Justice and Equality; Environment Community and Local Government; Education and Skills.

On the other hand, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Agriculture have already moved to newer Windows.

It turns out that Microsoft initially asked for no less than $19.4 million (€14.2 million) to provide extended Windows XP support for 12 additional months, but after further talks, the software giant agreed to lower its financial compensation.

“Given the initial baseline information, the cost of each organisation sheltering under individual agreements for 12 months would have been €14.2m. Following discussions surrounding a cap on cost, the overall cost was negotiated down to €3.3m for 12 months including some Microsoft technical inputs. This is a value for money solution to a global issue,” the spokesperson added.

“Cost will not be paid from any central fund or additional vote allocation but will fall to individual Departments and organisations.”