BEA Significantly Boosts Presence In Government Sector

Mark Hogan, vice president and general manager of BEA government systems, said that until recently, BEA's business in federal accounts has been "negligible." But in the past 90 days alone, BEA has won nearly 100 federal contracts, he said.

In BEA's fiscal-year third quarter, which ended Oct. 31, new licensing revenue in the government space contributed to about 15 percent of the company's overall business, Hogan said. "The past couple of quarters have been record-setting quarters," he said. "We did more last quarter than in the past two years, experiencing an increase of several hundred percent. I'm proud of our success."

Nearly all of BEA's deals in the government space involve some kind of business partner, whether it be an ISV that embeds BEA software in its product or a systems integrator such as Northrup Grumman, which is working with BEA on the FirstGov portal project for the U.S. government's General Services Administration, Hogan said.

Other notable government agencies that have awarded BEA contracts in the past 90 days are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Department of Veterans Affairs and NASA, according to BEA.

Hogan attributes BEA's recent success in the government sector to the strength of that market in general, which has been a hot spot for technology engagements in the past year.

The government "is a leader in embracing standards" for its IT projects and is intent on standardizing on the J2EE platform or .Net going forward, Hogan said. Since the Java camp "is more ready for prime time than [Microsoft is," BEA is in a good position to win government contracts, he said, adding, "BEA has a good product at a great time."