Cloud Computing: ‘Hockey Stick’ Growth Ahead?

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has sent a message of late that Microsoft is "all in" when it comes to cloud computing. In an interview with InformationWeek editors, Ballmer made clear that this all-in cloud computing bet isn't merely a long-term, over-the-horizon play. The cloud growth--"hockey stick" growth, he said -- is taking off right now. And Ballmer makes a passionate case for how the investment Microsoft has made in cloud computing products and infrastructure over the last five years makes it different from rivals Google, Amazon, and Salesforce.

We pushed to clarify--when does that hockey stick growth take off? We're not there yet, right? "I don't know. It sure feels like we're there today to me," Ballmer said.

He added, however, that most lines of business software--industry-specific applications or transaction systems, for example--aren't going to the cloud en masse yet. Platform as a service offerings, like Microsoft's Azure, haven't taken off. But with what he calls "information worker infrastructure" -- think Exchange, SharePoint, and Office software -- CIOs are ready to move quickly to the cloud.

"Look, I don't want to oversell or undersell, but the truth of the matter is there is not an enterprise customer I visit today where this is not an issue -- just not," Ballmer said. Any CIO considering an upgrade to the company's e-mail or other collaboration platforms has to at least consider going to a cloud-based infrastructure. "Everybody is saying, look, next time I touch anything, I'm going. If I'm not touching anything, maybe I don't go," Ballmer said. "But if I'm really going to touch something, I'm going to have this [cloud] discussion."

Ballmer kicked off our discussion in fine form, busting my colleague Fritz Nelson's chops for using an iPad hooked to a flimsy-looking keyboard to take notes. "Spend enough time and money, and you can make anything work like a PC," he cracked.

Text can never do justice to the intensity of Ballmer, who's rapid fire from topic to topic. So rather than present a straight Q&A, what follows is a series of extended excerpts from Ballmer's conversation with InformationWeek's Nelson, Rob Preston, and me, set up with the context of our conversation.

By Chris Murphy At Information Week read more here »