I like to bash Microsoft on their market domination tactics and crappy software just as much as the next guy, but I have to hand it to them on their reference architectures I just discovered. These reference architectures are much more than systems and software. They contain base reference architecture, prescriptive architectures for specific platform combinations (Microsoft, EMC, Cisco, HP), operations architecture, and service and support guides. I've included links to the enterprise data center and Internet data center architectures. This is stuff that companies pay consulting firms millions of dollars for. This is perfect example of Microsoft cannibalizing one part of their business for another. There is still money to be made from these, which is exactly what Avanade and a whole host of boutique consulting firms do with these reference architectures. Keep in mind that HP, Sun, and IBM do not make material such as these freely available.
