Ballmer Is Back in Europe this Week, Still Focused on the Cloud

Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer is back in Europe this week, his second EMEA tour in 2010.

Ballmer will be visiting Russia, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine. In fact, the tour has already debuted with Microsoft CEO keynoting the RUSNANOTECH Forum today, Monday, November 1st.

Ballmer’s recent and upcoming visits to EMEA markets are part of a larger push by the software giant focused on attracting attention to its Cloud offerings.

The message from the Redmond company is that its Cloud is mature enough for customers to start planning adoption of Windows Azure, SQL Azure, etc. and for developers to target the platform more than before.

“Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, will be visiting Russia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Ukraine as part of his second visit to the region in 2010 to drive cloud computing adoption and discuss Microsoft's innovation in the technology.

“During the week, Steve will be launching some new initiatives for Microsoft as well as keynoting at several events,” Microsoft promised.

While in Russia, Ballmer will also discuss the future of IT, again, with a focus on Cloud computing with students at Moscow University.

After Russia, Ballmer will be in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on November 2nd. The CEO will attend the Microsoft Open Door event in Riyadh, where he will talk the Cloud to IT professionals, developers, customers, partners and media.

Ballmer’s second tour in EMEA will end on November 5 in Kiev, Ukraine. “In Ukraine Steve will address students at Keynote at Kyiv Polytechnic Institute on the future of cloud computing,” the software giant said.

Almost a month ago, Ballmer toured Europe the first time in 2010, visiting Sweden, UK, Germany, France and Spain. Of course, apart from talking Kinect and Window Phone 7, Ballmer also made the Cloud and Windows Azure the star of his tour.