Key data center architect leaves Microsoft, headed for Amazon |
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James Hamilton
James Hamilton, one of the big brains behind Microsoft's data center strategy, has left the company, according to a note on his Microsoft home page. And we just confirmed that he's headed across town to Amazon.com, one of Microsoft's key rivals in the market for Web services and cloud computing.
"We are excited that James Hamilton has chosen to join Amazon Web Services as Vice President and Distinguished Engineer," an Amazon.com spokesman said via e-mail. "James has a distinguished career designing and deploying systems that are secure and that scale reliably and cost-effectively. James will start putting his expertise to work for Amazon Web Services customers in January."
Hamilton, a Microsoft veteran, was most recently an architect on the Data Center Futures Team. The rumors of his switch to Amazon surfaced yesterday on the Digital Cave Tech Hermit blog, which wrote that Hamilton's move would have major implications for both companies:
"If true this will be a significant hit to Microsoft’s data center program and an incredible benefit for Amazon. One of the recurring challenges to Amazon’s EC2 strategy is that they did not have enough focus and attention on their infrastructure. Picking up Hamilton would definitely show that Amazon is making moves to be a significant player in the space and give them a thought leader who has been known to be a key influencer of change."
The Data Center Knowledge blog has more details Hamilton's impact on Microsoft's data center strategy, particularly in the area of containerization. Also see this recent O'Reilly Radar post on Hamilton's work in the area of data center power efficiency.
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WTIA 15th Annual Industry Achievement Awards
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