Microsoft Fine-Tunes Organizational Structure to Pursue Software Services for Consumers and Business Users

REDMOND, Wash., Apr. 5, 2001 — Microsoft Thursday announced some internal organizational changes aimed at advancing the companys ongoing movement toward software services, in addition to the companys traditional packaged software products.

“Two years ago, we committed to a vision in which consumers and businesses will increasingly access the benefits of software through services — any time, any place, and on any device. Since then, weve made a lot of progress toward the goal of making services an integral part of Microsofts business, particularly through our efforts with .NET and MSN,”
said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

“To continue to deliver great products today, while simultaneously moving toward a services-oriented future for our customers, we are taking several steps to realign and fine-tune parts of our organization,”
Ballmer said.

Ballmer said the companys goal is to ensure that Microsofts flagship products, Windows and Office, continue to provide value and relevance to customers, and that Microsoft builds a software services platform that Microsoft and other developers can utilize to provide critical value-added services for consumers and business users.

The changes announced Thursday are a fine-tuning of a major reorganization announced seven weeks earlier, in which the company named Rick Belluzzo as President and Chief Operating Officer.

Under the changes announced today:

  • As President and COO, Belluzzo will continue to oversee Microsofts business operations, including sales and marketing, business development, MSN and development of the Xbox game console. As part of Thursdays announcement, Vice President Yusuf Mehdi will report to Belluzzo and lead the MSN & Personal Services Businesses Group , responsible for network programming, business development, and worldwide sales and marketing for MSN and Microsofts other software services efforts.

  • Group Vice President Bob Muglia will lead an expanded .NET Services Group, renamed the Personal Services Group , which will develop and manage a unified
    “back-end”
    services infrastructure for Microsoft and for third party developers. The creation of a unified services infrastructure group will provide Microsoft and developers with a single, consistent set of back-end tools that provide interoperability across Web sites and services. It also will ensure that consumers have a consistent experience when moving between products and services, regardless of whether they are provided by Microsoft or by third parties.

  • Group Vice President Jeff Raikes Productivity and Business Services Group will continue to drive the companys productivity software efforts, including evolving Microsoft Office to a service-based businessOffice.NET–that provides rich communications, PC management and business productivity services, important for knowledge-workers to work productively and efficiently in the future.

  • Group Vice President Jim Allchins Platform Products Group will continue to oversee Microsofts Windows operating system, server applications and developer tools efforts. As part of these efforts, Allchins team will work to enhance the Windows user experience and enable a seamless experience between applications and services from Microsoft and from other companies.

  • As part of Bob Muglias Personal Services Group, a new Personal.NET team will develop a premium subscription service for consumers that includes premium elements of Microsofts current MSN service, as well as services based on current consumer software offerings such as Encarta, Money, PictureIt!, and others.

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