Microsoft is bullish about its potential to dominate the enterprise computing market in the wake of the recent launch of SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005.
With the coming release of BizTalk Server 2006, Microsoft will complete its new application platform that is designed to compete in the "super platform" arena of the enterprise market.
The high level of integration between these three products and the inclusion of a complete business intelligence (BI) platform makes the business value of Microsoft`s offering unequalled in the market, claims Redmond-based SQL Server team director Carol Dullmeyer.
"The ability of these products to come together and behave as an integrated application platform to drive greater efficiency for business by sharing core infrastructure is what makes the offering unique," she said in a telephonic interview.
According to a report from the Utah-based Burton Group, Microsoft has good reason to be bullish, saying it could potentially leapfrog its competitors.
The Burton Group`s research director Anne Manes describes Microsoft as the "most visionary" of all the super platform players, saying it has a more cohesive offering than competitors such as IBM, BEA Systems, Oracle and SAP.
Dullmeyer ascribes this high level of cohesion to Microsoft`s commitment to building products that are integrated by design. "Unlike our competitors, they are not separate products that have been cobbled together."
While not discounting high-level integration as a competitive advantage, visiting BI expert, Oliver Oursin from Cognos in Germany, says Microsoft`s BI offering is no cause for concern.
Despite Microsoft`s aggressive pursuit of the high-growth enterprise market, Oursin says the BI component of its application platform is five years behind the market leaders, especially in terms of corporate performance management functionality.
However, in addition to the high level of integration between platform components, the Burton Group says Microsoft has done much to address enterprise-class security, scalability and manageability issues of earlier products.
Microsoft`s application platform delivers "notable gains in productivity and efficiency", according to Dullmeyer, which she believes will be enough to maintain the positive market response she claims is already beginning to gather momentum.
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