As president of the Server and Tools Business, Nadella will oversee the overall strategy, engineering, marketing and product development for Microsoft's server, tools and cloud platform efforts, Microsoft officials said. This includes developing the technology road map and vision to drive adoption of the company's products, tools and services, and delivering the company's next generation of cloud solutions for business customers.

Nadella will also be in charge of Microsoft's Windows Embedded business, since that was moved to STB last year from its longtime home within the company's Entertainment and Devices (EDD) division. The reorg recognizes that embedded devices are increasingly becoming part of the enterprise, and also that their manufacturers generally produce other enterprise tools, the software giant said at the time.

"We're already making strong traction across our Server and ToolsBusiness by embracing cloud services," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmerin an email to employees. "Satya has deep experience in both our serverbusiness and online services, which will help accelerate our momentumwhile setting the course to deliver the cloud computing scenarios of thefuture." 

Nadella has been at Microsoft for 19 years and most recently led the engineering efforts in the Online Services Division, which includes overseeing the technical strategy for one of the largest cloud infrastructures in the world, spanning the company's Search, Portal and Advertising platforms.

"Our server and tools business is one of the fastest growing and most profitable businesses at Microsoft," Nadella said in a statement. "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 joined the Online Services Division in April 2007, and was instrumental in leading the technical efforts for several critical milestones such as the launch of Bing, new releases of MSN and the integration of Yahoo across Bing and adCenter. Under his leadership, the Online Services Division has also built a strong engineering organization by attracting some of the most experienced technical minds from within Microsoft and across the industry.

Before joining the Online Services Division, Nadella led Microsoft Business Solutions, which focuses on the Microsoft Dynamics line of enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management products, and spent several years leading engineering efforts in Microsoft's Server Group.

Muglia, who will leave Microsoft in the summer, will work with Nadella as he transitions to his new role leading the Server and Tools Business, Microsoft officials said.

The promotion of Nadella is in line with recent reports that Ballmer would seek to add more engineering talent in top management roles. But it apparently came as a disappointment to Amitabh Srivastava, a senior vice president in STB, who will now be leaving the company, according to Ballmer's email.

Darryl K. Taft is a writer for eWEEK.

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