The Cloud Battle, A War to Sell Data Center Bits - Amazon, Google, Microsoft

This time of year is turning into a Cloud Battle, a war between Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to deliver bits as a service from data centers. iPhone vs. Android is a battle of mobile bits.  OS X vs. Windows 7/8/10 is a battle of desktop bits.  The Cloud is a battle to deliver bits as a service from data centers.

Microsoft had their cloud, and Google just finished theirs.  Next week is AWS Reinvent.  The media covers the battles.

Google's Newest Attack On Amazon

• JILLIAN D'ONFRO

• NOV. 4, 2014, 9:34 AM
• 9,656
• 1

When I read so many of the media articles though I think they are focused on how big fleet is or the latest technology.  Huh?  Like this article makes the point of measuring the naval power by the tonnage of the fleet misses the point.

Measuring Naval Power: Bigger Ain’t Always Better

Aggregate tonnage alone doesn’t win naval battles in the modern era, and suggesting otherwise is dangerous.

By James R. Holmes

April 12, 2014

...

Navies were largely symmetrical in those thrilling days of yesteryear. That simplified matters. Size was a decent proxy for fighting power when battle fleets made up largely of capital ships bearing big guns squared off. That was before the era — an era that persists to this day — when small craft could carry armament comparable to that of capital ships. A destroyer couldn’t tote big guns back then. A lowly missile boat or sub can fire munitions comparable to those of a capital ship today — and to the same deadly effect.

I have got a chance to close hand see how executives at Google (Urs Hoelzle), Amazon (Werner Vogel), and Microsoft (Scott Guthrie) perform at Gigaom Structure on stage and behind.  It’s kind of like seeing the Generals/Admirals of the military.

This is not a simple battle where more servers and more MW of data center capacity win the war.  How well your team operates using the technology which in the case of the bits (software) was created by other team members is so important.

I think I could write a whole book on the battles between between Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. In fact, I am sure there is someone who has already made a book proposal for this.  Unfortunately or fortunately, I am too busy working on other things to document things in an entertaining way to sell a book.  What I can do is watch as an observer to see strategies being played.

The Cloud Battle may be one of the most interesting technology wars fought with billions of dollars of data centers and IT equipment and 10,000s of development staff, reaching around the world.

Below is Google’s Points of Presence.

Oh, one point I do want to make that I forgot is.  Just like Sun Tzu the Art of War Point 18.  “All warfare is based on deception”  The good know how to deceive the enemy and they can use the media to spread the deception.  Don’t believe everything you read.

18. All warfare is based on deception.

10 years of Microsoft Data Center Executives

Microsoft’s latest VP of Data Centers (Global Foundation Services) now called the Cloud Infrastructure and Operations is Suresh Kumar.  There have been a lot of changes in the past 10 years of Microsoft’s data center group. The following is an accumulation of looking at Linkedin Profiles.

Currently Suresh Kumar is VP of Cloud Infrastructure and Operations with Christian Belady General Manager of Data Centers.

Dayne Sampson was VP of Global Foundation Services (GFS) from 2009 - 2014 with Christian Belady and Kevin Timmons as GMs of data centers.

Debra Chrapty was VP of GFS (until 2009) with Arne Josefsberg who brought in Mike Manos from Disney Interactive in 2005 to run data centers and this was the beginning of Microsoft’s transition to building data centers.

Before 2005 data centers also existed part of Microsoft IT and that was run by John Coster.

I have talked to some of the above people, but the only one I worked with is Mike Manos.

Mike and I overlapped by a year at Microsoft, and we didn't worked together when employees.  But, we did work together after I left the company and we had many interesting conversations.  The most memorable one was in Mar 2009 in his office when Mike said he was thinking of leaving Microsoft, and he wanted to know what I thought of leaving.  Mike had been at Microsoft for 4 years.  I had been at the company 14 years.  Mike explained the situation, and I was 100% supportive of Mike’s decision to leave Microsoft, and I knew with almost the same 100% certainty that Mike would eventually be a senior executive at the CIO/CTO level.  What I didn’t expect is how quickly Mike achieved CTO status.  Which reminds me of one of the points I shared with Mike is where would he be after 5 more years at Microsoft?  He would be a senior general manager with a slim chance of being a VP.  It may seem obvious that Mike would be VP of data centers/cloud vs. Dayne Sampson, but Dayne had internal support from other senior executives as Microsoft replaced Debra Chrapty.  One supporter of Mike was Satya Nadella, so it is possible if Mike was still at Microsoft he would be the VP of Cloud Infrastructure and Operations, but not a certainty.

Since I had posted comparing Suresh to Google’s Joe Kava using LinkedIn.  I was curious what happens if you compare Suresh to Mike using LinkedIn.  Here is a picture with Mike and Joe at 7x24 Exchange. Don’t think I have ever seen Suresh at a data center event.  Will to be fair you hardly ever see an Amazon.com employee at a data center event. :-)

What became clear in the LinkedIn data is that Mike has a higher peer review, and is probably one of the best VPs Microsoft could have had to run Cloud Infrastructure and Operations in the opinion of his LinkedIn connections.

Both Mike and Suresh have 500+ connections, and I think Mike’s actual connections may be a bit bigger.  Why?  Because data like Mike’s #1 skill is cloud computing 241, #2 data centers 225, and #3 IT Operations 136.  Suresh’s #1 skill is e-commerce 28 and his Cloud Computing # is 11.   Whoa.  Mike Manos Cloud Computing skill # is 241 and Suresh’s 11.  A 22x difference.  Data Centers for Mike is 225 and Suresh is 0. 

Mike did a short stint at Nokia and if Stephen Elop backed Mike Manos, then Mike could have come back to Microsoft through the Nokia acquisition.  We’ve all witnessed boomerang executives.

Those executives who know how to operate data centers are rare.  Those who know how to run Cloud Infrastructure seem more plentiful.  But, I somehow don’t feel comfortable taking direction from a Cloud Executive who doesn’t understand the way data centers operate.

Here are Mike’s top skills

Suresh’s top skills

Comparing Microsoft's VP of Cloud Infrastructure to Google's VP of Data Centers via LinkedIn Profiles

Microsoft has put a new VP in charge of its Cloud Infrastructure group retiring the role of VP of Global Foundation Services.  GFS’s logo looked like this.

Global Foundation Services (GFS) is the engine that powers Microsoft's cloud services. Learn more.

When I Google Search “Microsoft Global Foundation Services” what shows is Microsoft Cloud Platform with little trace of Global Foundation Services and the words Global Foundation Services (GFS) are gone.

So the changes have started in Microsoft’s data center group.  What changes are there in the future?

One way to look at what the future will be like is to compare the new Microsoft VP's public profile vs. a competitor.  I could pick Amazon as competitor, but Google is bigger in terms of a data center presence.  So let’s look at Microsoft’s Suresh Kumar, VP of Cloud Infrastructure and Operations vs. Google’s Joe Kava, VP of Data Centers.  The below is from their LinkedIn profiles as of Oct 21, 8:30p.  I am referencing the date and time of this post as things may change as profile get modified.  2 days ago Sumar’s picture was this.

Suresh Kumar, via LinkedIn

Now on LinkedIn Suresh’s photo is below.

Both Suresh and Joe have 500+ connections.

On Suresh’s profile his top skill at 27 in e-commerce.  Joe’s top skill at 117 is Strategy.

Joe has 66 for Data Centers.  Suresh has 0.

Here is Suresh’s top 10 skills.

Here is Joe’s top 10 skills.

The one area where Suresh and Joe are close is 11 and 14 for Cloud Computing.  

Suresh

Joe

When you look at the above numbers who would you choose to build your Cloud/Data Center Infrastructure?  This has been an interesting way to look at two different executives using LinkedIn profiles.  With fresh eyes I went and looked at my skills listed on my LinkedIn profile.  You may want to as well and think about how your skills are listed.

Oh the other area Suresh and Joe are equal is it looks like both of them now have photos that their corporate PR groups say is OK to have on a public facing site.

Joe Kava, via LinkedIn

Microsoft puts ex-Amazon VP in charge of Cloud Infrastructure and Operations, including data centers

Last week Microsoft put an ex-Amazon.com VP in charge of Cloud Infrastructure and Operations.  I’ve had e-mail conversations on the changes with lots of people asking questions, but I couldn’t write anything.  Well, now I can blog something because of public disclosure.  Suresh Kumar, VP of Cloud Infrastructure and Operations updated his LinkedIn profile.

Last week Suresh’s linkedin profile only showed Suresh’s Amazon experience even though he had been at Microsoft for months and his job change to Microsoft was not added yet.

VP, Worldwide Retail Systems and Retail Services

Amazon

August 2008 – May 2014 (5 years 10 months)Greater Seattle Area

As the Vice President of Worldwide Retail Systems, managed a global team of 500 engineers across seven locations, including four Vice Presidents of Technology and twelve Engineering Directors. Responsible for technology that powers core retail functions such as pricing, promotions, catalog and vendor management for all Amazon properties worldwide. Responsible for all aspects of technology, including program management, software development, testing, support, operations and business analytics. 

As the Retail CTO, responsible for establishing software architecture standards, and maintaining consistency in hiring and leveling of senior engineering talent across all retail divisions. Responsible for setting architecture direction for all Amazon retail subsidiaries and integrating subsidiaries into the Amazon technology stack.

As head of Retail Services, currently managing a team of 2000 associates across nine centers and twenty product imaging studios worldwide, responsible for creating and maintaining all item information, including item images for products sold by Amazon retail.

Now there are these two entries.

Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure and Operations

Microsoft

October 2014 – Present (1 month)Redmond, WA

Responsible for designing, building and operating the infrastructure that power's Microsoft's cloud; the engineering systems required for automating and optimizing the processes associated with the planning and management of the cloud infrastructure.

Corporate Vice President

Microsoft

June 2014 – September 2014 (4 months)Redmond, WA

There are many more details, but the above is all I could find that has been published.  

Will be interesting to see how Suresh does in his role at Microsoft. He has a background that is different than many and I didn’t find any data center experience in his background.

Princeton University

PhD, Engineering

1987 – 1992

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Bachelor of Technology (BTech), Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering

1983 – 1987

...

· Ten patents on work related to mobile computers. Three patents on collaborative computing, one on cryptography and one on electronic auctions. Several patent applications on e-commerce are pending.

Oops, Microsoft buys 2 more homes to support its Iowa Data Center expansion

Des Moines Register reports on Microsoft buying 2 home to support its data center expansion.

Microsoft has closed in on some of the last pieces of land for its $1.1 billion data center in West Des Moines.

The Redmond, Wash.-based company has purchased another two homes that sit on the future site of the "Project Alluvion" data center.

Microsoft purchased one home for $405,000 and another for $275,000, according to documents recently filed with the Polk County recorder's office.

If you go to the above link you can see where the data center site is located.