Microsoft Appoints New Head of Servers and Tools Business

When Bob Muglia announced his impending departure from the position of President of Microsoft’s Servers and Tools Business (STB), TalkinCloud wondered who was going to replace him – especially since Muglia was heading Microsoft’s efforts with the Windows Azure cloud platform. But now we know that Senior VP of Microsoft Online Services Satya Nadella (pictured) has been promoted and will be replacing Muglia at STB this summer.

The STB unit is responsible for products like Microsoft Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio, System Center and the Windows Azure platform. In other words, the STB unit is key to Microsoft’s enterprise growth strategy beyond the operating system. That makes it especially notable that rumored favorite for the position, Windows Azure group head Amitabh Srivastava, was passed over in favor of Nadella.

That doesn’t mean Nadella doesn’t have the credentials needed for the job. Microsoft’s press release indicates that in his 19 years with the company, Nadella was heavily involved in the development and management of products as diverse as Microsoft Dynamics, Bing and adCenter. That said, he doesn’t seem to have much experience in STB’s offerings.

In a prepared statement on his ascension, Nadella seemed confident in Microsoft’s enterprise cloud strategy:

“Our server and tools business is one of the fastest growing and most profitable businesses at Microsoft. I see great opportunity for Microsoft to grow the business and also lead the way in the transformation of enterprise IT. I’m excited to work with such a high-caliber team to chart the path for our continued success today and growth in the future.”

Nadella and Muglia will work together until the power shift becomes official with the latter’s departure in the summer 2011. But from where TalkinCloud’s standing, it looks like Nadella is going to be continuing business as usual with Microsoft’s cloud partners, for better or for worse.

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