Forrest Foltz is an Architect on the Windows Azure team, where his primary focus is in the development of Windows and Hypervisor for the datacenter. Shifting the paradigm to the cloud brings different design requirements very specific to the kernel and virtualization stack.  Foltz is a key member on the Windows Azure team and has been involved it since its inception.

Now in his 18^th year with the company, Foltz has held various development and architectural roles in a variety of Microsoft operating system products including LAN Manager, Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95 and Windows 98, then Windows NT. While working on Windows NT, Foltz was heavily involved in the porting of that Operating System for 64-bit platforms and building various kernel frameworks, including PatchGuard, which helped him to lay the initial groundwork for greater than 64-processor support.  He has been awarded several patents in connection with his work at Microsoft.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Foltz worked as an electrical and software engineer at Research Technologies, a small startup in Edmonds, WA., developing and delivering a variety of technologies ranging from marine power management to aerospace laser alignment systems.