REDMOND, Wash. — July 15, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has been positioned in the Leaders Quadrant of Gartner Inc.’s 2005 Magic Quadrant for Web Services Platforms. The report, published by Gartner, a premier research and advisory firm, was developed to assist enterprises with the vendor selection process for Web services platform direction and influence, and evaluated 13 companies as part of its research. According to Gartner, those positioned as leaders are vendors that are performing well today, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market.
“Microsoft’s Web services platform helps businesses worldwide connect people, processes and information through software,” said Ari Bixhorn, director of Web Services Strategy at Microsoft. “With our ongoing commitment to industry standards and new Web services offerings including ‘Indigo,’ the code name for Microsoft’s next generation of Web services technology, Microsoft provides a comprehensive solution for organizations to integrate heterogeneous IT investments more securely and reliably.”
This year’s Web Services Platform Magic Quadrant focused on platform offerings for the first time and used different criteria than the previous Magic Quadrants for Web-services-enabled software. For this report, companies were evaluated based on their vision and ability to execute in the following areas: Web services platform elements and breadth of offerings; Web services standards leadership; and Web services platform ecosystem and developer influence. Gartner uses questionnaires, analyst briefings and customer interviews to determine a company’s position in the quadrant.
The full report can be viewed on Gartner’s Web site.
About the Magic Quadrant
The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2005 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.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Gartner Research “Magic Quadrant for Web Services Platforms, 2005,” D. Smith, C. Abrams, D. Sholler, D. Plummer, M. Cantara. July 12, 2005
