US software giant Microsoft will base its global research and development centre for specialised search engines used by companies in Norway, company chief executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday. "The global centre for our enterprise search R&D will be done here from Norway," Ballmer told reporters after meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in Oslo.
The move was made possible by Microsoft's recent purchase of Norwegian company Fast Search & Transfer for 6.6 billion kroner (1.2 billion dollars, 836 million euros), he said.