Zürich, December 9th 2008

Greater Zurich Area AG announces significant expansion of Microsoft Development Center in Zürich, Switzerland

Today, Greater Zurich Area AG and Microsoft Schweiz GmbH have announced a significant expansion of the Microsoft Development Center in Zürich, Switzerland.

Excellent infrastructure, proximity to world-class universities, political and economic stability, as well as access to a multi-lingual and well-educated talent pool of IT professionals and developers were the decisive factors for Microsoft’s decision to increase the stake in Zürich as its location of choice for the Development Center expansion.

Core competencies at the Center are the development of key technologies of Microsoft’s Office Communication Server. For example, the standardized VoIPbased (Voice over IP) telephony software for Office Communication Server 2007 has been developed in Zürich for the most part.

At today’s inauguration of the new premises in Zürich, Erich Gebhardt, Director of the Microsoft Development Center in Zürich, said he expected his staff to grow from currently 45 to 200 in the coming three years.

«Software made in Switzerland is a reality with great quality», said Gebhardt. «It’s Microsoft Office made in Switzerland.» According to Gebhardt, the significant expansion of the Development Center underlines Microsoft’s strong commitment to the international IT location Zürich. «We firmly believe that Zürich will become one of the top addresses for VoIP companies in the world in the next five years.»

As a single workplace of a Microsoft developer entails many more jobs among suppliers’ industries, the Development Center expansion has been welcomed with great enthusiasm by international economic location promotion agency Greater Zurich Area AG.

«When a leading global corporation such as Microsoft opens one of its main global Development Centers in the Greater Zurich Area, we see this as a great compliment to the business location Greater Zurich Area» said Willi Meier, CEO of the Greater Zurich Area AG. «But when Microsoft further embarks on an expansion course and significantly increases its headcount in the Greater Zurich Area, it clearly sends a global message to the ICT community that is heard way beyond Swiss borders.»

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About Office Communication Server 2007
About Unified Communications

For further information, please contact:
Barbara Josef, PR-Manager / Spokesperson, bjosef(at)microsoft.com
Microsoft Schweiz GmbH, Richtistrasse 3, 8304 Wallisellen
Phone: +41 (0)78 844 65 85; Fax: +41 (0)43 456 44 44
Microsoft Mediacorner

About the Greater Zurich Area AG
The Greater Zurich Area AG, a nonprofit organization, is the location marketing organization for the Greater Zurich Area business region. It recruits international companies abroad and assists them in setting up companies and making investments in the Greater Zurich Area. Its sponsor is the “Stiftung Greater Zurich Area Standortmarketing,” a public-private partnership that was established in November 1998. Since that time, its membership has grown to include the cantons of Aargau, Glarus, Graubünden, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn and Zürich, the cities of Zürich and Winterthur, and several Swiss companies.
www.greaterzuricharea.ch

For further information, please contact:
Claudia Magri, Head Communications, Greater Zurich Area AG, Zürich
Phone: +41 44 254 59 07
Marc Neumann, International Media Relations, Greater Zurich Area AG
Phone: +1 212 427 7185
 

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