Last month, the Air Force started testing securely configured Microsoft software that will be distributed servicewide beginning in October. The Air Force's use of standard security configurations will improve network management and security, Air Force officials said.

Microsoft sent the Air Force a preconfigured bundle of the company's software that includes the Windows XP operating system, Office suite, Internet Explorer and portions of Windows Server 2003. Air Force officials will test for hardware and software compatibility, said Ken Heitkamp, assistant director for life cycle management in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Chief of Warfighting Integration and Chief Information Officer.

The preconfigured package, also called a software image, will help the Air Force better manage systems enterprisewide. "This is most important and most difficult," Heitkamp said.

The Air Force signed two Microsoft consolidation contracts last year to streamline the service's software and support contracts with the company. Microsoft officials are delivering common configurations of the company's operating system and applications under terms of those contracts.

The deals, worth $500 million during the next six years, will also let the Air Force obtain and test software patches before the company publicly releases them. The service will receive confirmed patches of the company's software for automated installation on the Air Force's 525,000 computers within 48 hours of their release.

The Air Force will first install the securely configured Microsoft software on computers at a U.S. base. The service will then deploy the software at two more bases, followed by the rest of them, a process that should be completed by June 2006, Heitkamp said.

Air Force command leaders must use the preconfigured software or risk being kicked off the service's network. This approach will help achieve the One Air Force-One Network-One Information Technology Business Strategy, which seeks to create standard software configuration, configuration management, network management and improved security enterprisewide, he said.

Lawmakers think so highly of the Air Force's initiative that Congress wants the Pentagon to consider using it throughout the Defense Department.

The House version of the fiscal 2006 National Defense Authorization Act called for Ken Krieg, DOD's undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, to review the Air Force's enterprise license agreement with Microsoft and submit a report to the House Armed Services Committee by March 1, 2006.