Microsoft's Raikes To Step Down

Microsoft is also moving its Server and Tools Business out of the Microsoft Business Division, just 8 months after SVP Bob Muglia and his group, which includes the SQL Server, Visual Studio franchises, moved into the MBD. The Server and Tools group will now report directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

A Microsoft employee for more than 20 years, Raikes has been heavily involved in defining Microsoft's information worker business and its push into the productivity applications space.

Raikes has also been one of the most vocal proponents of Microsoft's moves into the unified communications space, and he appeared onstage with Chairman Bill Gates at the Office Communications Server 2007 launch in San Francisco last October.

Stephen Elop, formerly COO at Juniper Networks, will join Microsoft at the end of the month as president of Microsoft's Business Division, where he'll oversee the Information Worker, Unified Communications, and Microsoft Business Solutions groups. Elop's career also includes stints at Adobe and Macromedia.

Raikes will retain his President title, will continue to report to Ballmer, and until September, will assist Elop in the transition to his new role as president of Microsoft's Business Division.