Alaska's Checkbook Online website provides insight into how the state spends its money. Companies that want to do business with the state should use this valuable new resource to better understand which departments spend the most money as well as which of their competitors are successfully doing business with the state.

During her state of the state speech in January, Sarah Palin talked about the launch of Alaska's Checkbook Online, "We redesigned technology for government efficiency and transparency, including our nearly-complete online checkbook, showing Alaskans where their money is spent." So how did the state spend its technology dollars and how much did it spend?

In the fiscal year that ended on June 30, the Land of the Midnight Sun spent $69.8 million on technology and telecommunications in the following areas, though information technology and IT consulting comprised over 41% of the total spending:

702 companies received a portion of the $69.8 million spent on technology in fiscal year 2008. The top 10 technology vendors received just over 56% of the total:

Note: ASAP Software was purchased by Dell in 2007; and Alascom, Inc., is owned by AT&T but is required to operate independently of its parent company in Alaska.

The Department of Administration was responsible for 39% of the spending, which is not surprising since Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) is a division within that department and is responsible for providing centralized enterprise technology services to state agencies. ETS is working on several major projects:

• Enterprise Active Directory Project (Opp ID 45469) -- Will contain executive branch assets for authentication and security
• Telephone Replacement Project -- World Wide Technology is the lead systems integrator for VoIP systems and is deploying a converged technology infrastructure
• Alaska Land Mobile Radio Project (ALMR) (Opp ID 12549) -- Transitioning to the operations and maintenance phase, while continuing to plan expansion

For more information about other states' transparency initiatives and the type of market intelligence that companies can glean from these initiatives, download INPUT's recent report entitled, State "Transparency" Websites Provide Immediate Insights and Long-Term Opportunities for Vendors.