Reside Search is no longer part with the bigger Windows Reside companies family members, when it comes to engineering and advancement.
1 by-product with the March 21 Microsoft announcement with the development of a new Search and Ad Platform group obtained somewhat small play. As a result of the newest reorg, Live Search improvement is no longer below Senior Vice President Steven Sinofsky. As an alternative, Live Search is now joined at the hip with Microsoft adCenter in the form of a separate group.
Prior to Wednesday's announcement, Sinofsky, who heads Windows and Windows Reside Engineering, had responsibility for the improvement of all of the Windows Reside providers,
Office 2007 Key, including Live Search, Windows Live Mail, Windows Reside Messenger, Reside.com and other members of the Windows Live family members.
Now Live Lookup will fall underneath Microsoft veteran Satya Nadella.
The most recent online solutions reorg at Microsoft arrives at a time when Reside Search is struggling to catch up to Google and Yahoo. According to the February Nielsen NetRatings data, Reside Lookup gained a bit of search marketshare (from 8.9 percent in January to 9.6 percent in February) — a positive change compared to 2006.
New Microsoft lookup chief Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992 from Sun Microsystems. In September 2006 assumed the role as business leader of the Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM product lines. Nadella, like Sinofsky, will report directly to Microsoft Platforms & Services division head Kevin Johnson.
"I believe (Nadella) spent some time in online providers working on the ClearLead CRM platform,
Office Standard 2007, and then heading up bCentral, so this isn't exactly a new place for him, although a much higher-profile and more important position," said Matt Rosoff,
Microsoft Office Professional 2010, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft.
"I think it makes perfect sense to consolidate adCenter and Web lookup, and I'm only surprised it took Microsoft so long to do so," Rosoff added.
During his Microsoft tenure,
Windows 7 License, Nadella also has served as general manager of the Commerce Platforms Group and led the improvement efforts for Microsoft Commerce Server and Microsoft BizTalk Server. Nadella was also a key member of several advanced technology incubation efforts inside Microsoft, including interactive television (ITV) and digital rights management (DRM), according to his bio on the Microsoft Web site.
In his new role, Nadella will have a handful of direct reports. Among Nadella's lieutenants:
* Rick Thompson, corporate VP in charge of the Windows Live Advertising and Monetization Platform at Microsoft. (Windows vet Thompson spearheads the engineering efforts around adCenter, as well as the billing and subscription monetization teams.)
* Dane Glasgow, general manager for Reside Search.
* Danielle Tiedt, general manager of lookup content acquisition with MSN
* Erik Jorgensen,
Office 2007 Pro Plus Key, general manager of Microsoft's lookup and mapping unit
* Ken Moss, general manager of Microsoft lookup
* Mike Conte, general manager, MSN Marketplaces
Have any suggestions for Microsoft's new lookup chief?