Microsoft merges cloud team with server group

Azure joins the mainstream.

Microsoft has announced that it is merging its cloud Azure team and the Server group into a single entity dubbed the Server and Cloud Division (SCD).

The move had been expected for some time in light of Microsoft's increasing moves to merge its cloud and full-pay software sales.

"SCD will deliver solutions that help our customers realise even greater benefits from Microsoft's investments in on-premise and cloud technologies. And the new division will help strengthen an already solid and extensive partner ecosystem," said a post on the Windows Server blog.

"As the only company in the industry that has the leading server platform complemented by a massive investment in online services, we have the unique ability to offer our customers a choice to tap into one or both approaches simultaneously through one consistent platform."

The new division will be headed by Amitabh Srivastava, as a part of Bob Muglia's Servers and Tools Business. Muglia spent much of this year's Professional Developers Conference pushing Azure services.

The move also further clarifies the role of Ray Ozzie as technologist, since it removes him from leadership of the Azure project. Ozzie was hired as a replacement for Bill Gates, who would nurture projects before handing them over to the business team.

Ozzie "will continue to remain involved in Microsoft's cloud strategy and service offerings and is very involved in what's occurring in the realm of social software", according to a Microsoft statement.