WASHINGTON, D.C. – Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer kicked off the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference 2010 here with a simple message to partners: if you’re not interested in the cloud, Microsoft is not the right company with which to work. But for partners interested in making the transition to cloud-based solutions and architectures, the bombastic CEO maintains there’s no better company in the industry with which to work.
Ballmer came out to partners chanting “O cloud” at the request of new channel chief John Roskill, an homage to the recently-concluded World Cup “Olé olé olé olé” calls. And the word “cloud” didn’t stop getting used from there on in, dominating Ballmer’s 40-plus minute address to the 9,500 partners in attendance.
“The opportunity to transition to the cloud for enterprise and business customers for partners around the world is absolutely clear,” Ballmer told attendees.
Ballmer said he’s “super-enthused” about the cloud, and that “Microsoft has chosen to embrace that path together with all of you.”
“We still have more to do to develop mutual opportunities in the cloud,” he said. “We’re not at a stage where small companies are making experimental steps into the cloud. These opportunities are real and available to us today.”
Conversely, Ballmer warned partners reticent to invest in the cloud, “if you don’t want to move to the cloud, we aren’t your folks.”
Ballmer’s laundry list of cloud-focused clients (mostly for its Online Services and Azure offerings) includes names like Coca Cola, Starbuck’s and GlaxoSmithKlein
Much of Ballmer’s presentation reiterated his now-famous “All In” speech at the University of Washington in March, and refined some of the partner-centric points around it. His pitch to partners who have not yet embraced the idea is that the cloud helps solution providers reach “classes of customers that are hard to serve,” most notably small business, departments in large companies and remote subsidiaries. But to do so, both Microsoft and partners have to raise the bar on the biggest concerns many potential cloud customers have – reliability, availability and security.
