Microsoft Server numbers accurate, but dated – Josefsberg

In a recent article at CNET Microsoft’s General Manager of Infrastructure Services, Arne Josefsberg confirmed that the server numbers visible in an environmental video were accurate.  Perhaps more compelling was his statement that the data is dated meaning it has moved significantly past those numbers.  

Josefsberg said the figures were accurate, but out of date, reflecting where things were at a year or 18 months ago.

I don’t know about you, but I cannot even wrap my mind around 200,000 servers let alone the fact that it’s where they were 18 months ago!  He also re-states the numbers we have heard from Debra Chrapaty and Michael Manos on monthly server deployments.   

I find it also interesting that Ray Ozzie is that plugged into the infrastructure being able to articulate the operational processes in the data center.  I am not aware of many senior execs that even know the data center exists, let alone understand the operational ins and outs.

The article is also interesting on a couple of notes as Josefsberg outlines further growth opportunities including some interesting comments on network bandwidth and emerging applications. 

To those of us watching closely, the article does get some things wrong like the location of their data center in Quincy Washington and their intentions for a Siberian data center which was scuttled about a year ago.