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4 min read

Microsoft recognized as a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Desktop as a Service for the second year in a row

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The path to IT modernization involves the integration of technology to optimize processes and elevate experiences for customers and employees alike. Microsoft recognizes that customers have many tech and vendor choices on this journey to help solve their biggest workplace challenges. That’s why it is an honor for us to be recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Desktop as a Service (DaaS)* for the second consecutive year. Gartner defines DaaS as “the provision of virtual desktops by a public cloud or service provider” and uses the term to encompass a variety of cloud solutions.

We believe this recognition highlights our commitment to empowering our customers with innovative and scalable solutions with built-in security in the evolving market landscape. Microsoft’s comprehensive solutions provide you and your business with the flexibility to choose between self-assembled and vendor-assembled services, catering to a wide range of organizational needs.

Figure 1: Magic Quadrant for Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Innovation and scalability

To help ensure that you have the best tools for flexible work, Microsoft is continually enhancing our cloud-based solutions. By focusing on innovation, scalability, and security, we strive to provide updates and improvements that meet the evolving needs of modern work environments.

Windows 365 brings the familiar Windows operating system to the Microsoft Cloud, offering a new way for employees of all types—whether interns, contractors, information workers, or shift workers—to experience Windows 11 or Windows 10. It delivers the most up-to-date Windows experience to any device and provides IT admins with a streamlined management experience through integration with Microsoft Intune. Windows 365 makes Cloud PCs easy to configure, deploy, manage, and secure, allowing your organization to maximize existing technology resources and meet the diverse needs of employees whether they are on site or remote. Recent enhancements include:

  • Unified experience: The Windows App for Windows, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and web browsers—and in public preview for Android—is your secure gateway to connect to Windows across Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, Remote Desktop, Remote Desktop Services, Microsoft Dev Box, and more.
  • Focus on security: Your users and data are more secure using a Cloud PC, with recent releases of unidirectional clipboard protection, mobile application management controls for mobile devices, secure-by-default configuration and Purview Customer Key for encryption. 
  • Enhanced resiliency: Helps ensure your Cloud PCs remain operational during unexpected disruptions with robust business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) capabilities.
  • Advanced GPU support: Get easy access to computing resources required for demanding, graphics-driven workloads and applications.

Azure Virtual Desktop is a cloud virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution providing infrastructure admins with the ability to fully customize deployments—along with flexible, usage-based pricing—for customers experienced with VDI who seek greater control. Azure Virtual Desktop continues to make new investments that help keep your organization’s data and applications more secure while providing IT teams full control over configuration and management. Here are a few recent enhancements:

  • Better Microsoft Teams experience: For Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365, Teams delivers seamless transitions and lower latency, making virtual environments more efficient and user-friendly.
  • Azure Stack HCI support: Customers can host Azure Virtual Desktop session hosts at their on-premises edges with Azure Stack HCI 
  • Enhanced app management: Manage apps more easily in shared environments.
A side angle of two people looking at (presumably) a laptop, which is just out of frame

Microsoft recognized as a Leader

For the second consecutive year, Gartner recognized Microsoft as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for DaaS.

Read the report

A comprehensive ecosystem

Microsoft’s extensive ecosystem of services, including Intune, FSLogix, Microsoft Entra, and generative AI solutions like Microsoft Copilot, enables your business to fully integrate user computing environments, enhancing overall operational viability.

  • Intune: Device management and security is simplified, ensuring that all endpoints are compliant and secure. With Intune, administrators can manage devices, Cloud PCs, and applications from a single console, providing you with a seamless and secure experience across various devices and platforms.
  • FSLogix: Industry-leading user profile management provides a more efficient and faster login experience for VDI users. It reduces load times for user profiles, while allowing user settings and data to roam between VDI sessions. This technology also supports Microsoft 365 containers, making it easier to manage data and settings in a virtual environment.
  • Entra: Get secure and seamless access to resources. It provides robust authentication and authorization mechanisms, enabling secure access to virtual desktops and applications.
  • Copilot: Your everyday AI companion assists with complex cognitive tasks, helps streamline operations, and enhances decision making. In a DaaS environment, Copilot can help users navigate their virtual desktop more efficiently, offer real-time assistance, reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks, and so much more.

As the DaaS market continually evolves, you can count on Microsoft to stay ahead of the curve, offering the solutions you need to tackle the unique challenges your business faces. With our wide-ranging ecosystem, focus on security and sustainability, and constant improvements, Microsoft continues to work hard to keep leading the way in the DaaS space.

Read the full 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Desktop as a Service report.

Learn more about Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows 365, and Copilot.

*Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Desktop as a Service, Stuart Downes, Craig Fisler, Sunil Kumar, Eri Hariu, Mark Margevicius, Tony Harvey, 5 September 16, 2024.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Microsoft.