REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 22, 2004 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that the company is positioned in the Leader Quadrant in Gartner Inc.’s 2004 Web Services Magic Quadrant 1. The report, published by Gartner, a premier research and advisory firm, evaluated 12 vendors as part of its research. According to Gartner, vendors listed in the Leader Quadrant are performing well today, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the industry.
“From the early days of SOAP and XML, Microsoft has been a strong supporter and contributor to the adoption of Web services,” said David Mendlen, director of Web Services Technical Marketing at Microsoft. “We feel the recognition by Gartner in the Leader Quadrant in Web services reflects our commitment to working with the industry to move the technology forward, and our ability to deliver a platform to our customers that intrinsically supports Web services at the deepest level.”
The updated Web Services Magic Quadrant also looks at the progress of Web services over the past year, and notes that Web services have become more mainstream, and the effects of the technology are influencing software overall. In particular, Web services are catalyzing many current software innovations and, more important, the standardization of those innovations.
The annual Web Services Magic Quadrant is developed to assist enterprises with the vendor selection process for Web services direction and influence. It evaluates vendors based on their vision and ability to execute in five key categories: Web services vision and its importance to overall business strategy; overall breadth of incorporation of Web services into product and service offerings; support of emerging business models for Web services, service-oriented architecture (SOA) and service-oriented business applications (SOBA); Web service standards influence; and Web services developer influence. Gartner uses questionnaires, analyst briefings and in-depth customer interviews to determine a company’s position in the quadrant.
The full report can be viewed on the following link: http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/gc/webletter/microsoft4_enterprise/article23/article23.html .
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
#########
1 Magic Quadrant for Web-Services-Enabled Software, 3Q04; D. Smith, C. Abrams, Sept. 20, 2004
The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted in 2004 by Gartner Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the “Leaders” quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft®
Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.asp
