TAP develops and sells data management software for financial services firms operating in capital markets, a key vertical segment for Microsoft.

"TAP and its market and reference data management platform, TAPMaster, are an integral component of Microsoft's "experience Capital Markets" initiative," said Rich Feldmann, managing director in Microsoft's North American Financial Services Group. "We have a tremendous financial services-focused partner community at Microsoft that leverages the strength of our Windows, SQL, Office, and BizTalk products, as well as our .NET platform, to deliver solutions to a competitive international capital markets industry."

To become a Gold partner, TAP and the TAPMaster product suite met stringent requirements, including staff certification, product tests, and customer reference checks. Along with the Gold status, TAP also attained the Independent Software Vendor (ISV) and Data Management competencies, specializing in business intelligence.

The Canadian Microsoft partner community totals more than 11,000, with roughly 230 Gold certified partners. Though TAP has been developing custom software solutions using Microsoft products since 1990, with the help of Microsoft's Financial Services Group, TAP has been solely marketing and selling TAPMaster since 2004 to some of the world's largest financial services firms.

"The product and sales support Microsoft has provided TAP is truly immeasurable," says Conal Campbell, TAP's Manager of Sales and Alliances. "When the world's largest software company singles you out as a Gold Certified vertical industry provider, that recognition validates our vision and provides tremendous credibility for TAPMaster in the international marketplace."