UPDATE as of 9/1/2010 Drexel no longer carries Gartner Research –

Instead we recommend:

Faulkners for basic definitions and market awareness

Burton Group for in-depth tactical decision support on technology management issues, or

IGI Global for extensive handbooks and encyclopedias on specialty information use domains

Feel free to get in touch if you have questions about any of these.

Tim Siftar  -  siftar@drexel.edu

UPDATE as of 9/1/2010 Drexel no longer carries Gartner Research – See Faulkners, Burton or IGI Global instead
As IT industry insiders are well aware, having the right “magic quadrant” or “hype cycle” graph from Gartner Research can be tremendously helpful in framing a discussion of IT strategy options. Should your organization invest in the next “new” tech fad?  What vendor has a proven record in delivering value? Each graph reflects the position of multiple technologies and/ or vendors into one deceptively simple image. It does this by synthesizing the conclusions of dozens of reports on individual technologies along with the collective views of an editorial panel of top flight Gartner IT consultants.

With Drexel’s recent service upgrade, students can now directly access the Gartner Research Portal and browse interactive online versions of reports we previously had only as flat PDF’s. How is that better? On the portal, by mousing-over datapoints on a hype cycle or magic quadrant you are instantly shown additional information on each vendor or technology mentioned. This supports more intuitive browsing and leads to a faster, more productive research experience.

To try out this feature, first search for the keyword “gartner” in the library catalog, or browse it on the library’s list of databases. (Or use THIS LINK.)

Log into the Gartner portal using your DrexelOne ID/PW. See the left-side of the portal front page for either the Hype Cycle or Magic Quadrant reports. Use the link to “view all” for a full list. Choose a report that sounds interesting, open it and find the main chart of the report. When you mouse-over the individually charted data-points notice they are clickable and lead you to more info.

Let me know what you think!