Ex Yahoo VP to Spearhead MS Cloud Computing Division

Microsoft has acquired another all-star executive from one of its rivals. This time it's former Yahoo vice president of operations Kevin Timmons, who will now take control of Microsoft's Data Service organization within the company's wider Global Foundation Services (GFS) division.

The hiring is part of Microsoft's plan to construct a cloud computing network complete with efficient data centers.

When with Yahoo, Timmons headed that company's data center strategy and pushed hard to increase the PUE, or Power Usage Effectiveness metric. The PUE metric is used to measure energy efficiency -- it divides the total power used by a data center by the power consumed by its IT infrastructure. The lower the number, the better. (Source: internetnews.com)

PUE the Next Great (Online) Battleground

Given that efficiency usually means wider profit margins, it's understandable that Microsoft would want to lower its own PUE by hiring Timmons, who Microsoft general manager of infrastructure services Arne Josefsberg credited for placing great importance on the metric. Some say that the PUE could represent the next great battle front between Microsoft and search engine powerhouse Google.

Microsoft is in the middle of constructing data centers across the globe. It's trying to increase its online service delivery capability, and increasing the efficiency of its data centers in San Antonio, Chicago, and even Dublin is considered critical towards this end.

Timmons Hiring Part of Larger Plan

The Timmons hiring is just one part of Microsoft's recent campaign to restructure its Infrastructure Services. Last month it began a shakeup of its five teams, including Shared Infrastructure, Programmable Infrastructure, Platform Hardware Standards, Global Network Services, and Data Center Services.

Josenberg believes the changes will put Microsoft in a better position moving forward. "These changes will help us align our teams with Microsoft's evolving cloud computing business and position our infrastructure for the upcoming year and beyond," he announced in a recent blog post. (Source: crn.com)