Microsoft Corp. and Fort Gordon officials signed an agreement Tuesday at Fort Gordon's Conrad Hall to make the Signal Center a Microsoft IT Academy.

"You are our biggest customer in the world, and now you are going to be the largest IT Academy," said Brian Roach, the general manager of Microsoft's Department of Defense district.

Students will use Microsoft's curriculum to learn new technologies and receive hands-on and interactive training that can be used in the workplace.

"This will have a lasting impact," said Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Foley, Fort Gordon's commanding general and Signal Center chief.

The Army uses many Microsoft applications and must teach its people how to use them. The partnership would have happened years ago, but Microsoft didn't initially recognize the Signal Center as being equivalent to an institution of higher learning, according to Chief Warrant Officer Richard Mitchell, the officer in charge of the systems branch at the post's Leader College of Information Technology and a major force behind the agreement.

He said long-standing partnerships the Army has with the University of Maryland and Webster University give officers college credit for some of the Army courses they take.

The other IT Academies graduate about 100 students per year. About 2,500 will graduate annually through Fort Gordon's, making it the largest in terms of student population.

Those going through the academy at Fort Gordon will be mainly warrant, branch and noncommissioned officers. Of those who graduate, 60 percent will be in the Army National Guard or Reserves and will be able to take their training back into their communities.

The academy came to Fort Gordon because someone was in the right place at the right time. From July 2006 to July 2007, Chief Warrant Officer Mitchell participated in an Army program that sent warrant officers into the industry. He spent that year working for Microsoft and met the people who brought the IT Academy into existence.

He said the academy will extend far beyond Fort Gordon.

"It will carry out into jobs in thousands of communities, not just the military," he said.

He said future applications could help wounded warriors transition to civilian life with a wealth of computer knowledge gained through the academy.

The agreement with Microsoft is similar to one the Army has with Cisco.

"We are able to leverage industry-developed curriculum that is tweaked with a military flavor," Chief Warrant Officer Mitchell said. "We didn't have to spend a lot of time developing the curriculum."