Norway to host Microsoft search engine development centre

Norway to host Microsoft search engine development centreMicrosoft said Tuesday its main development centre for search engine technology was to be based in Norway.

Chief executive Steve Ballmer made the announcement after a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

In the short-term, Microsoft was to hire 50 developers and researchers, Stoltenberg said.

Microsoft currently has some 300 employees in Norway, mainly employed by FastSearch & Transfer that the US-based giant acquired earlier this year.

The Oslo-based company is specialized in technology to retrieve information from documents, databases and software.