The Gravitational Pull Was Too Strong

By Christian Belady
General Manager, Data Center Research, Global Foundation Services

Many of you may have already heard that I have change roles yet again in Microsoft. It was only 11 months ago that I had moved to Microsoft Research to pursue ground-breaking work in the Extreme Computing Work (Apples Don’t Fall Far from the Tree). In that time, I experienced the great opportunity of helping to set an organizational vision and build a team of Hardware Architects and Engineers, who I believe are second to none. It was a significant experience given to me by Dan Reed the CVP of XCG, which I am very grateful for. However, while their team’s ship has set sail on a course that I believe will transform the industry five to 10 years out, I realized that growing up professionally in a product development ecosystem most of my career, I do need more of an instant gratification. Combined with that need and the growing business needs of the Global Foundation Services (GFS) team, I am thrilled to say that I will be going back to my roots in Microsoft to be the GM of Datacenter Research (DCR), reporting to Kevin Timmons.

DCR will be an advanced development lab (versus a traditional research lab), whose horizon is one step beyond the datacenters we have on the drawing board today. I am blessed to have yet another great opportunity.

So what was the defining moment that made me decide on yet another move? In October, I took a field trip with my team to take a look at the progress of our new Quincy, Washington modular facility. Upon seeing the facility, my first reaction was euphoric. The facility looked exactly like we had been conceptualizing it on a white board in my previous stint in GFS. Wow, it was very gratifying knowing that I was a part of the team that envisioned the design. Soon after we nailed the concept, I had moved on while the rest of the team experienced the satisfaction of being able to realize the completion of the engineering and execution of the airside, economized, modular design. They are the ones that deserve all of the credit for a truly break through datacenter…they are a great team. And I wanted to be part of that team again, it was that simple. I also have complete respect and trust for the GFS management team in their values and strategic direction. So when the leadership in GFS offered the opportunity, there was no question in my mind on how to proceed. So here I am again, excited about what the future will bring and like I said “The Gravitational Pull Was Too Strong” and the apple returned to the tree!

Finally, just as you may have heard us say before, whatever you see today in our datacenters, you’re not likely to see tomorrow, as we are a company that is constantly evolving and innovating. As a result, the opportunities are endless for its datacenter engineers and services operations team, and for the customers that we serve. Man, I love this company!

/cb