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Microsoft Corp. on Monday will announce a realignment of its Platforms Group, aimed at optimizing and improving its core Windows businesses, officials said.
In an interview with eWEEK on Monday, Jim Allchin, the Group Vice President of Platforms at Microsoft, in Redmond, Wash. said this organizational redesign will be a critical next step in the evolution of the Windows business and the operating system platform, particularly as the company heads towards the release of the next Windows operating system, code-named Longhorn.
Among the changes is the creation of the Windows Core Operating System Division (COSD), a new, centralized engineering division that will be responsible for the core operating system platform.
That will fall under the leadership of Brian Valentine, who is currently the senior vice president for Windows. He will work exclusively on the engineering, customer and market requirements, architecture, technology, tools, planning and process components of the Windows business.
Allchin said that Microsoft is to align the Windows Business teams more closely with the companys current profit and loss (P&L) structure.
Changes include having the Windows Client Business, currently under the stewardship of Senior Vice President Will Poole, report directly to Allchin. The Windows Server organization will also now become part of the Server and Tools Business, reporting to senior vice president Eric Rudder.
As part of this change, Bill Veghte, the current corporate vice president for the Windows Server Group, moves to work for Kevin Johnson, Microsofts group vice president of Worldwide Sales, Marketing and Services, where he will lead North America sales and marketing.
Bob Muglia, the senior vice president of the Enterprise Storage and Enterprise Management Divisions, will now also lead the Windows Server effort, adding this to his current responsibilities for Storage and Management products. He will continue to report to Rudder.
In addition, Allchin said he will announce two management changes. Dave Thompson, the corporate vice president of the Windows Server Product Group, will move across to head up the Exchange Team.
Also, after more than 14 years in Windows, Sivaramakichenane Somasegar, the current corporate vice president of the Windows Engineering Services Group, will take over the leadership of the Developer Division and report to Rudder.
So as to ensure that the Windows leadership remains aligned and coordinated around product development, communication, decision-making, and execution, a Windows Leadership Team will also be established. It will be anchored by Valentine, Muglia and Poole.
The Windows Engineering Leadership Team will also be headed by Valentine and focus on the engineering side of the business.