SEATTLE – As the whole world contemplates on the introduction of Windows 8 desktop OS, Microsoft has taken another gigantic step with its release of Windows Server 2012, today. Microsoft acknowledges this OS to be the biggest player in the core enterprise market in upcoming years.
So who is the think-tank leading this enormous project? It’s time to meet the Indian behind Windows Server 2012- Satya Nadella. Nadella is the current president of Servers and Tools Business (STB) at Microsoft and the master mind behind Server 2012. “This is perhaps the biggest release of our server products in history, bigger than NT,” he said at the launch event. “I was here at Microsoft when we launched Windows NT, which ushered in the era of client/server, and we believe that Windows Server 2012 ushers in the era of the cloud operating system.”
In an interview given to SiliconIndia for its March ‘03 issue Nadella, who was then the corporate Vice President for Microsoft Business Solutions expressed his vision about the Microsoft CRM on which he was working and its implications on the enterprise server and the third-party server. During his interview, he mentioned, “The person would most probably be using MS Outlook, he or she wouldn’t even know that the underlying software is a CRM tool. But the person can now do a lot more with his email—generate and complete an entire order, and rack up the tally on the corporate inventory. The CRM would be working on the enterprise server or on some third-party server.”
SiliconIndia’s March ’03 issue shed light on the immense potential and foresightedness of this Indian pro and his visionary is evident from these 19 years that he has contributed to Microsoft and the world of technology.
Nadella grew up in Hyderabad- India, where he did his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Mangalore University, followed by a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin. The master’s degree was truly the turning point of his life. In 1992, Nadella joined Microsoft, which he proudly admits, ‘the path to his new life.’ Nadella came to Microsoft from Sun Microsystems, where he was a member of their technology staff.
According to Microsoft, Nadella is the architect for the overall business and technical vision, strategy, operations and engineering and marketing that made over $15 billion via businesses. The Server and Tool Business platform nurtures Microsoft’s infrastructural managerial services and cloud platform that cover up some of the ground breaking products like Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio, System Center and the Windows Azure Platform- Microsoft’s pinnacle in cloud technology.
The perseverance and determination of this Indian didn’t wind up, as he continued his studies, including a successful MBA degree from the University of Chicago. At Microsoft, Nadella spend several years leading engineering efforts in Microsoft’s Server group. This was followed by his promotion to the Online Services Division of Microsoft. Along with that, he also led Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS), which develops and markets the Microsoft Dynamics line of ERP and CRM products.
At the OSD, Nadella was appointed as the senior vice president of R&D. Microsoft credit Nadella as the lone architect for its most-successful search engine- Bing, online portal MSN and other advertising platforms. It’s pretty clear that the technical visionary of Nadella has bought Bing from nothing to the third most preferred search engine across the globe.
In February 2011, Microsoft was subjected to a major shake-up and that bought this Indian to one of the most coveted managerial positions in the company. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer himself appointed Nadella as the president of the Server and Tools Business.
Ballmer praises Nadella’s work at OSB: “He led the overall R&D efforts for some of the largest online services and drove the technical vision and strategy for several important milestones, including the critical launch of Bing, new releases of MSN, Yahoo integration across Bing and adCenter, and much more.”
“Satya is also well-known for his leadership. He has strong collaboration skills, is decisive in both decision-making and delegating and has strong customer insights, engineering and business expertise. He also knows how to structure organizations for outstanding performance,” he continued. From that time on, tech giant, Microsoft had no time to look back, as they dusted all other enterprise companies with their ever-grossing products.
Nadella clearly signifies that praises and admiration is not what overlays the pavement to success. The below mentioned fact proves the validity of the statement.
According to reports, Microsoft’s Server and Tools business is bigger than its desktop Windows business. This is prior the growth rate of the S&T department that hit $18.7 billion when compared to $18.4 billion from Windows.
Nadella currently resides with his wife and three children in the state of Washington.
