Microsoft, based in Seattle, runs its "Workflow for the Life Sciences solutions" line from a 25-person group at its 200-worker Great Valley office. Why here? "Think about the presence of the pharma companies, the large health care providers" in the region, easily accessible by "Amtrak and USAir," says general manager Steve Aylward, who joined the group from Siemens' medical unit down the road, four years ago.

Aylward's group sells SharePoint, a "regulated document management" system for that keeps track of "adverse drug effects, collaboration with clinical research organizations and providers for clinical trial management" and FDA drug approval applications.  These "solutions" include features developed by Nextdocs, a private company headed by Zik Syed in Exton, that signed a partnership deal with Microsoft in 2007.

SharePoint competes with EMC Corp.'s California-based Documentum Inc., among other providers, though the firms "are also partners," with SharePoint pushing what Microsoft says is a smoother client interface for Documentum users. Clients include Pfizer, Cephalon, Abbott Labs, among others, Aylward says. "We're following through on the Microsoft mantra of making the technology familiar, easy to use, so people don't need to be trained on it."

Aylward claims "double digit" sales growth, but Microsoft won't break out the totals. As part of his sales job, some 350 pros from Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, and Novartis offices in the U.S. and Europe, among other firms, are at Loew's in Center City today and tomorrow for "ShareFest," the group's first industry conference.