As Jon Brodkin notes over at InfoWorld, Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant on virtualization places Microsoft and Citrix up in the Leaders Quadrant alongside long-standing leader VMware for the first time. According to Gartner, VMware “continues to set the standard in products and the pace in terms of strategy,” with Citrix demonstrating enhanced “vision” and Microsoft commended for “execution.” Oracle is called out as a potential challenger in future. Analyst’s diagrams and pundits’ evangelising aside, VMware remains the company to beat in this space, and only time will tell if Gartner’s optimism concerning these challengers translates into sustained new marketshare.