Updated Independent Analysis on Microsoft Productivity Solutions for Prem and Cloud

There have been a lot of updates with Gartner analysis for the Microsoft Productivity stack and other related stacks that I work with. Specifically SharePoint, Office 365, Lync and BI have all been getting great independent reviews. The important take away that I discuss with my customers is that all these top quartile rated technology is delivered on a single, integrated solution stack. They are NOT hodgepodge solutions brought custom integration.
Many of the reports and newest reports can always be accessed from here - http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/itanalyst/default.mspx
SharePoint and Office 365
As you can see we have been great assessments for enterprise content management, enterprise search with FAST for SharePoint 2010, great recognition as portal provider, social computing and business process analysis with Visio Services and SharePoint workflow. Much of this capability is delivered through the Office 365 cloud as well.

• Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management – October 2011 - G00219745 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-180UJ6N&ct=111116&st=sb
• MarketScope for Enterprise Search – November 2011 - G00216488 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1835DKL&ct=111123&st=sb
• Magic Quadrant for Horizontal Portals – October 2011 - G00219245 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-17RRLXF&ct=111025&st=sb
• Magic Quadrant for Social Software in the Workplace – August 2011 - G00214779 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-173SL7W&ct=110826&st=sb
• Magic Quadrant for Business Process Analysis Tools – December 2011 - G00219247 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-18EUESV&ct=111221&st=sb

SQL Server and BI
As you can see these are very recent reports giving us good reviews in the areas of BI and Data Warehouses. I think the big take away is again total cost of ownership (TCO). We give strong BI solutions and customers do not need to make significant investments to deliver BI through the same SharePoint investments discussed above.

• Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms - Feb 2012 - G00225500 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-196VVFJ&ct=120207&st=sb
• Magic Quadrant for Data Warehouse Database Management Systems – Feb 2012 - G00219281 -http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-196VVFG&ct=120207&st=sb

Exchange and Office 365
For email with Exchange either delivered on-premise or through the Office 365 cloud we continue to be evaluated as a leader. This really speaks to our versatility in allowing customers to select the most appropriate place and get the same level of end user experience for business users.

• MarketScope for Email Systems – June 2011 - G00213356 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/media-products/reprints/microsoft/vol14/article22/article22.html
• Magic Quadrant for Secure Email Gateways – August 2011 - G00214080 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-16XZCJZ&ct=110811&st=sb
• Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Wireless Email Market – December 2011 - G00219736 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-18KGC8M&ct=120105&st=sb

Lync and Office 365
Microsoft is again recognized as a leader in all these types of solutions with Lync which can additionally be delivered through the Office 365 cloud. Our Unified Communications solutions are completely integrated in Office, Outlook and SharePoint allowing users to quickly transition between tasks they are working on making them highly productive. These capabilities are extremely useful for telework or communications between people spread across large geographies.

• Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications – August 2011 - G00214025 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1728DMD&ct=110823&st=sb
• Magic Quadrant for Web Conferencing – December 2011 - G00219266 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-188LI4E&ct=111207&st=sb
• MarketScope for Enterprise Instant Messaging and Presence – July 2011 - G00213790 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/media-products/reprints/microsoft/vol14/article7/article7.html
• Critical Capabilities for Unified Communications as a Service – March 2011 - G00210950 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/media-products/reprints/microsoft/vol14/article18/article18.html
• Magic Quadrant for Corporate Telephony – September 2011 - G00215455 - http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-17DCX5P&ct=110920&st=sb