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The Microsoft partners in the country are smiling. Satya Nadella’s announcement of setting up three local data centers in India has fueled hopes of cloud services getting bigger with the verticals such as government, BFSI and Hospitals embracing it. Kamal Nath, CEO, Sify Technologies added, “Our bouquet of services for datacenter transformation, cloud and managed IT solutions demand future ready, reliable and highly efficient business solutions. With the early adopter initiative, we look forward to building such solutions, integrating Microsoft Azure platforms and devising hybrid cloud ecosystems for the enterprise customers.”

Microsoft will radically revamp which Windows updates customers receive starting with Windows 10, a move analysts said was the biggest-ever change in the firm’s update practices. “Windows 10 will be delivered in a way that gives more choice and flexibility to businesses,” wrote Jim Alkove, the head of Microsoft’s Windows enterprise program management team, in a Microsoft Windows blog. “As a result, a business can pick the speed of innovation that is right for each group of its users, rather than apply a one size fits all solution.”

Microsoft will offer its commercial cloud services—Azure and Office 365 by the end of 2015 from local data centers in India, where the company sees a $2 trillion business opportunity. “One thing you can be sure of is that for every con¬nected smartphone, you need to have a cloud infrastructure. We want to enable the growing entrepreneurial experience of Indians. There can be no mobile-first without a cloud-first world,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Microsoft Devices is preparing for the festive season with three new Lumia devices. The Lumia 730, priced at Rs 15,299 and the Lumia 830, priced at Rs 28,799, will attract buyers in the affordable device segment, while the flagship Lumia 930 will have a Rs 38,649 price tag. Ajey Mehta, MD, Nokia lndia Sales, says that the two affordable devices will pack in premium Microsoft services like Skype, OneNote and Cortana, available mostly in high-end Lumia phones—a clear USP for these devices.

NIIT will partner with Microsoft India on its significant ‘Women in Tech’ initiative designed to inspire, attract, and retain one million women in the IT industry. As a learning partner, NIIT will utilize its nationwide network to train and certify girl students and women in the latest Microsoft technologies across 5,000 schools, colleges and centers across 200 cities. “Through this initiative, we aim to double the number of women professionals in the Indian IT industry over the next few years,” said Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik.

‘Microsoft Talent India 2014’ is Microsoft’s latest initiative to help Indian youth succeed in the new digital economy. HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella jointly addressed a gathering of over 35,000 students during the CEO’s first trip to India after taking over at the helm of the company. Nadella spoke about the importance of doing what you love and looking at every opportunity as a learning experience, while the minister spoke about the importance of IT as a key factor in providing a better tomorrow for India’s youth.

When he was named the chief executive of Microsoft earlier this year, Hyderabad-born Satya Nadella had his work cut out—to ensure that the future of the company would be as secure as its past. One measure of his success is that, since he took over on February 4, the company’s stock has jumped 25.6%. In light of his achievements, he has been awarded the Global Indian Award at the ET Awards 2014. Under Nadella’s leadership, Microsoft has continued to push the Azure platform and maintains the company’s strong culture of innovation.

In the latest addition to the Office productivity suite, Microsoft has launched a free preview of the app Sway. The new app lets users make interactive and easily shareable projects on the Web. It includes a deep integration with Microsoft’s other apps and the powerful Azure servers. Sway’s rich features can help users create anything from resumes to websites with the least amount of effort, on the go.

On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a pitch for “i-ways for a Digital India” and asked industry captains to seize the initiative, the Hyderabad-born chief executive of Microsoft has offered a partnership to help accelerate the country’s growth. “We are keen to partner with the government and industry at large to help make this vision a reality,” said Satya Nadella in an exclusive interview to ET, ahead of his first visit to India next week.

Businesses and the government can look forward to partnerships with Microsoft, as India aims to accelerate economic growth. In an exclusive interview to ET, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “India has been an important part of Microsoft’s plans in the more than two decades that we’ve had a presence here. Every time I visit, I’m energized to see the advancements India has made and truly believe technology is a key enabler for India to thrive and create more opportunities for every individual and business in its economy.” Nadella is set to visit India next week for the first time after taking over as CEO.