2nd guess is Project Alluvion is Microsoft, not Amazon

When someone asked who was behind Project Alluvion I guessed Amazon, but knew it was a guest when I posted.

Project Alluvion is??? Amazon or someone else?

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 AT 7:56PM

I was talking to a data center friend and he tipped who was behind Alluvion, so I corrected myself to my friends who asked, but I couldn’t post based on a conversation that is not a public disclosure

I have friends asking me if I know who is behind Project Alluvion.  My guess to throw out there is Amazon.

DesMoines Register posts on the public document discovery that Microsoft’s GFS employees are registered for Project Alluvion.  My data center friends tip was right.  My guess was wrong.  Oh well, it was a guess.

Microsoft appears to be the company behind “Project Alluvion,” the newest data center project proposed for Iowa, according to documents provided to The Des Moines Register.

In the documents, acquired by the Register through a public records request, West Des Moines city and water works officials discuss Project Alluvion and the project’s water needs with Brian Andersen and Ray Cheng, two employees of GFS Data Center Engineering, a division of Microsoft that works on the company’s cloud storage and data center services.

Both Andersen and Cheng show Microsoft as their current place of employment on their profiles for a social network site.

Part of public disclosures are driven by the need to improve the water infrastructure to support the cooling needs of the data center.

The proposed new data center project, at full build out, could use up to 2.4 million or 6 million gallons of water in a single day when temperatures reach 90 or higher, according to differing figures from West Des Moines and Des Moines waterworks officials.

The projected usage demands significant infrastructure expansion — potentially a new water tower or underground aquifer and storage tank for reserve water — at West Des Moines or Des Moines waterworks facilities.

When you build really big data centers it is hard to hide.  Google, Facebook, and Apple know this as well as Microsoft.

A word view of Satya Nadella's e-mail to employees

A friend sent me the WSJ analysis of what is between the lines in Satya Nadella’s email to employees.

Commentary: Decrypting Satya Nadella’s CEO Welcome Letter

I decided to run a different analysis. What is the word count of the e-mail.  I have it below.  The one area that jumped out was the following grouping of words that came up 4 times.

4 great
4 forward
4 devices
4 cloud
4 change
4 better
4 believe

Here is the complete word list.  Make your own conclusions from staring at word count. :-)  i’ll stop after 3 words as the list gets too long.

 

53 and
39 to
38 the
34 we
30 i
23 of
18 that
18 in
18 do
17 it
17 a
15 our
13 world
13 this
12 for
11 will
11 microsoft
11 is
10 more
10 have
9 us
9 things
9 are
8 what
8 new
8 as
7 work
7 with
7 on
7 me
7 can
6 here
6 from
6 company
6 am
5 need
5 my
5 make
5 every
5 all
4 you
4 who
4 very
4 today
4 people
4 not
4 great
4 forward
4 devices
4 cloud
4 change
4 better
4 believe
4 an
3 why
3 was
3 ve
3 value
3 technology
3 software
3 satya
3 s
3 re
3 opportunity
3 only
3 one
3 next
3 must
3 mobile
3 many
3 learning
3 lead
3 know
3 innovation
3 has
3 first
3 family
3 empowers
3 each
3 done
3 core
3 ceo
3 by
3 but
3 bill
3 best
3 been
3 at
3 about

Who takes over Satya Nadella's old job of Cloud Executive? For now Scott Guthrie

One of the questions I have bounced around with friends is who will take over Satya’s old job which included being the Cloud Executive.

Looks like the answer for now is Scott Guthrie.

Microsoft appoints Scott Guthrie new Cloud & Enterprise chief

Summary: ScottGu, the red-shirted Azure development lead, is the new head of Microsoft's Cloud & Enterprise division.

Mary Jo Foley

By  for All About Microsoft |February 5, 2014 -- 01:08 GMT (17:08 PST)

 
 

Who will succeed Satya Nadella as Microsoft's Cloud & Enterprise chief?

guthrieredshirt

The answer to this question -- to which I was asked numerous times today following the announcement that Microsoft's new CEO will be Satya Nadella, who was head of Cloud & Enterprise -- is Scott Guthrie.

Yes. The red-shirted ScottGu is, for now, the "interim" Cloud & Enterprise Executive Vice President at Microsoft. I hear he's likely to be made the permanent one, as well, though no one is saying that in any official capacity for now.

My Aug 2013 prediction of Microsoft's Next CEO is True, Satya Nadella has the job

I wrote back in Aug 2013 an Analysis The Next Microsoft CEO, and put Satya as the leading candidate.

Well today is the press release, and Satya has the job.

Microsoft Board names Satya Nadella as CEO
Feb. 04, 2014
Bill Gates steps up to new role as Technology Advisor; John Thompson assumes role as Chairman of Board of Directors.
Send EMail
 

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 4, 2014 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Satya Nadella as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors effective immediately. Nadella previously held the position of Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group. 

“During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella,” said Bill Gates, Microsoft’s Founder and Member of the Board of Directors. “Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together. His vision for how technology will be used and experienced around the world is exactly what Microsoft needs as the company enters its next chapter of expanded product innovation and growth.” 

The above fits with what I said.

Summary: The next CEO of Microsoft is going to be someone Bill Gates and his advisors trust and respect to fulfill the CEO role over the next 15-20 years. Microsoft is a company built on writing software, therefore the CEO should have the ability to support the vision of developing innovative software that leads the industry in growth.  Satya Nadella is a leading candidate.  What is unknown is what Bill Gates thinks of the other candidates vs. Satya.

...

My perspective on Satya is different than many as I remember Satya from days of working on Microsoft's Interactive TV where he was a product manager and I was a program manager. We were chatting a bit back in June 2013 at GigaOm Structure. Satya joined Microsoft in Feb 1992.  I joined in Apr 1992.  Satya has worked in a wide range of roles at Microsoft and has taken the path of being groomed for executive leadership.

Now that the Microsoft CEO is identified the company can move on.  Who will take over Satya’s job?  What is the new organization now that Satya has the backing of the board?

“Satya is clearly the best person to lead Microsoft, and he has the unanimous support of our Board,” Thompson said. “The Board took the thoughtful approach that our shareholders, customers, partners and employees expected and deserved.”

Microsoft's Bill Laing Keynotes at Open Compute Summit Jan 28, 2014, "Microsoft Datacenters at Cloud Scale"

I think the last time I saw a Microsoft Presentation at Open Compute Summit is Dileep Bhandardar’s talk in 2011 for the first Open Compute Summit.  There are a handful of people besides Facebook employees who have gone to all the Open Compute Summits.  I’ve gone to all so I know first hand who presented.  I remember Dileep’s talk as I coincidentally  sat next to Dileep on the flight from SEA to SJC in first class and we spent some time going over his presentation.  Dileep is now with Qualcomm and since then I think I can count the number of Microsoft employees I’ve seen at OCP on one hand who I recognize.  (note: given it has been 8 years since I left Microsoft i missed a whole set of Microsoft attendees.

When I checked out the latest schedule for OCP.

NewImage

Bill Laing is keynoting right after Frank Frankovsky. Given Bill is keynoting I got a feeling there will be a bunch more Microsoft employees at this event.