Former Microsoft Cloud Exec Now Leading Storage at EMC

Former Senior Vice President in charge of Microsoft’s Server and Cloud Division Amitabh Srivastava has wound up in command of the Advanced Storage Division at EMC Corporation, according to his recently updated LinkedIn profile.

To understand why it’s a big deal that Srivastava has ended up at EMC, it’s important to rewind back to January 2011, when Robert Muglia announced his departure from Microsoft, leaving the office of President of the Servers and Tools Business (STB) up for grabs.

Just shy of a month later, Microsoft confirmed that Senior VP of Microsoft Online Services Satya Nadella would be getting the nod – which apparently didn’t sit well with Srivastava, who had previously been assumed to be the favorite to succeed Muglia. In March, Srivastava left Microsoft, and fell off the radar until now.

As All About Microsoft’s Mary Jo Foley points out, EMC is the owner of VMware, one of Microsoft’s fiercest rivals in the cloud and virtualization space. It seems like Srivastava has no qualms about taking on his former employers.

In a neat bit of synchronicity, TalkinCloud also has the scoop on EMC’s Q2 2011 earnings. Stay tuned for more updates on EMC, Microsoft and VMware.