https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/14/linkedin-shelved-plan-to-migrate-to-microsoft-azure-cloud.html Skip Navigation logo * watchlive logo Markets * Pre-Markets * U.S. Markets * Currencies * Cryptocurrency * Futures & Commodities * Bonds * Funds & ETFs Business * Economy * Finance * Health & Science * Media * Real Estate * Energy * Climate * Transportation * Industrials * Retail * Wealth * Sports * Life * Small Business Investing * Personal Finance * Fintech * Financial Advisors * Options Action * ETF Street * Buffett Archive * Earnings * Trader Talk Tech * Cybersecurity * Enterprise * Internet * Media * Mobile * Social Media * CNBC Disruptor 50 * Tech Guide Politics * White House * Policy * Defense * Congress * Equity and Opportunity CNBC TV * Live TV * Live Audio * Business Day Shows * Entertainment Shows * Full Episodes * Latest Video * Top Video * CEO Interviews * CNBC Documentaries * CNBC Podcasts * CNBC World * Digital Originals * Live TV Schedule Watchlist Investing Club * Trust Portfolio * Analysis * Trade Alerts * Meeting Videos * Homestretch * Jim's Columns * Education * Subscribe * Sign In PRO * Pro News * Pro Live * Stock Screener * Market Forecast * Options Investing * Subscribe * Sign In Menu * Make It * select + ALL SELECT + Credit Cards + Loans + Banking + Mortgages + Insurance + Credit Monitoring + Personal Finance + Small Business + Taxes + Help for Low Credit Scores + Investing + SELECT + All Credit Cards + Find the Credit Card for You + Best Credit Cards + Best Rewards Credit Cards + Best Travel Credit Cards + Best 0% APR Credit Cards + Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards + Best Cash Back Credit Cards + Best Credit Card Welcome Bonuses + Best Credit Cards to Build Credit + SELECT + All Loans + Find the Best Personal Loan for You + Best Personal Loans + Best Debt Consolidation Loans + Best Loans to Refinance Credit Card Debt + Best Loans with Fast Funding + Best Small Personal Loans + Best Large Personal Loans + Best Personal Loans to Apply Online + Best Student Loan Refinance + SELECT + All Banking + Find the Savings Account for You + Best High Yield Savings Accounts + Best Big Bank Savings Accounts + Best Big Bank Checking Accounts + Best No Fee Checking Accounts + No Overdraft Fee Checking Accounts + Best Checking Account Bonuses + Best Money Market Accounts + Best CDs + Best Credit Unions + SELECT + All Mortgages + Best Mortgages + Best Mortgages for Small Down Payment + Best Mortgages for No Down Payment + Best Mortgages with No Origination Fee + Best Mortgages for Average Credit Score + Adjustable Rate Mortgages + Affording a Mortgage + SELECT + All Insurance + Best Life Insurance + Best Homeowners Insurance + Best Renters Insurance + Best Car Insurance + Travel Insurance + SELECT + All Credit Monitoring + Best Credit Monitoring Services + Best Identity Theft Protection + How to Boost Your Credit Score + Credit Repair Services + SELECT + All Personal Finance + Best Budgeting Apps + Best Expense Tracker Apps + Best Money Transfer Apps + Best Resale Apps and Sites + Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Apps + Best Debt Relief + SELECT + All Small Business + Best Small Business Savings Accounts + Best Small Business Checking Accounts + Best Credit Cards for Small Business + Best Small Business Loans + Best Tax Software for Small Business + SELECT + All Taxes + Best Tax Software + Best Tax Software for Small Businesses + Tax Refunds + SELECT + All Help for Low Credit Scores + Best Credit Cards for Bad Credit + Best Personal Loans for Bad Credit + Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit + Personal Loans if You Don't Have Credit + Best Credit Cards for Building Credit + Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower + Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower + Best Mortgages for Bad Credit + Best Hardship Loans + How to Boost Your Credit Score + SELECT + All Investing + Best IRA Accounts + Best Roth IRA Accounts + Best Investing Apps + Best Free Stock Trading Platforms + Best Robo-Advisors + Index Funds + Mutual Funds + ETFs + Bonds * USA * INTL * watchlive Search quotes, news & videos Watchlist SIGN IN logo Markets Business Investing Tech Politics CNBC TV Watchlist Investing Club PRO Menu Tech LinkedIn shelved planned move to Microsoft Azure, opting to keep physical data centers Published Thu, Dec 14 20239:00 AM EST thumbnail Jordan Novet@jordannovet WATCH LIVE Key Points * LinkedIn called off a plan to move technology to Microsoft Azure, a setback for its parent company, which is chasing Amazon Web Services. * LinkedIn had announced plans to switch to Azure and away from its on-premises data centers in 2019. * Azure has been key to Microsoft's growth under CEO Satya Nadella. In this article * MSFT Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella arrives at federal court in Washington on Oct. 2, 2023. Nathan Howard | Bloomberg | Getty Images LinkedIn has set aside an effort to relocate its data center technology out of its physical facilities and into Microsoft's Azure cloud, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision not to proceed with the project, code-named "Blueshift," marks a major reversal for LinkedIn, which announced its plan to move to Azure in 2019, three years after Microsoft acquired the company for $27 billion. LinkedIn had been using Azure for specific tasks. The U-turn represents a setback for Microsoft, which is chasing Amazon Web Services in the lucrative cloud infrastructure market and has been counting on cloud technology and services to fuel much of its growth. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella ran the cloud business before elevation to his current job in 2014. Mohak Shroff, LinkedIn's vice president of engineering, wrote in a 2019 blog post announcing Blueshift that "moving to Azure will give us access to a wide array of hardware and software innovations, and unprecedented global scale." Staffers started to learn of the decision not to follow through with the Azure migration last year, said the sources, who asked not to be named because of confidentiality. Executives stressed that the project was being put on hold, rather than getting canceled altogether, they said. In a memo to research and development employees in June 2022, LinkedIn Chief Technology Officer Raghu Hiremagalur said LinkedIn would continue to use some Azure services and will "focus our efforts on scaling and innovating our on-prem infrastructure." A different internal document, viewed by CNBC, says LinkedIn and Microsoft together agreed to hold off on trying to get LinkedIn's website running on Azure. "With the incredible demand Azure is seeing and the growth of our platform, we've decided to pause our planned migration of LinkedIn to allocate resources to external Azure customers," Hiremagalur wrote in his memo. A LinkedIn spokesperson confirmed that the Microsoft subsidiary changed direction on Blueshift and said LinkedIn continues to use Azure. "We are using both Azure to complement our infrastructure needs and further investing in our data centers," the spokesperson said in an email. "This includes our running 100 employee-facing applications on Azure, leveraging Azure FrontDoor and ongoing work to consolidate our datacenter locations that are currently spread across multiple buildings under a single roof. Azure has been crucial to support and scale collaboration and productivity for our teams and to deliver value to our members." Azure Front Door is a content delivery network that keeps information stored in a variety of places around the world so it can quickly be sent to devices. Issues with the planned migration arose from LinkedIn attempting to use its own software tools instead of those readily available on Azure, one of the people said. LinkedIn is in the process of constructing an additional data center to handle its computing needs, the person said. Under the leadership of Nadella, Microsoft has moved some of its acquired assets to Azure, including GitHub and Minecraft developer Mojang. More recently, Azure has gained attention because of Microsoft's investment in OpenAI, which uses Azure infrastructure for running the large language models powering ChatGPT and other products. Nadella told Wired that he first saw the GPT-4 LLM from OpenAI in the summer of 2022, a few months before OpenAI released the ChatGPT chatbot. Microsoft said in October that third-quarter revenue from Azure and other cloud services grew 29%, while LinkedIn revenue was up 8%. LinkedIn said in November that it had reached 1 billion members. WATCH: January's hiring rate is expected to be down from previous years, says LinkedIn's Karin Kimbrough January's hiring rate is expected to be down from previous years, says LinkedIn's Karin Kimbrough watch now VIDEO3:4703:47 January's hiring rate is expected to be down from previous years, says LinkedIn's Karin Kimbrough Power Lunch logo * Subscribe to CNBC PRO * Subscribe to Investing Club * Licensing & Reprints * CNBC Councils * Select Personal Finance * CNBC on Peacock * Join the CNBC Panel * Supply Chain Values * Select Shopping * Closed Captioning * Digital Products * News Releases * Internships * Corrections * About CNBC * Ad Choices * Site Map * Podcasts * Careers * Help * Contact * * * * * * * News Tips Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you. 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