Microsoft today announced its new R&D facility situated in the heart of Bangalore’s business district. Microsoft's first R&D center was set up in Hyderabad in 1998, while Microsoft Research India was established in Bangalore in 2005.

Inaugurating the building, Qi Lu, president, Online Services Division, Microsoft Corp, said, "For the last one decade India has been a key player in Microsoft’s strategy of global shared development. The availability of world class talent, advanced infrastructure and proximity to the booming emerging markets of the world are key reasons behind this."

He further added that with the combined strength of Yahoo and Microsoft Corp’s Search marketplace, we are ready to deliver improved innovation for consumers and better monetization opportunities for web publishers.

The Bangalore team has a charter to make significant engineering contributions to Microsoft Corp’s adCenter product, Qi added.

Anandan, distinguished scientist and managing director, Microsoft Research India said, "Bangalore has been our home ever since we established the Microsoft Research India lab, and moving to the new, larger lab space is indicative of the increasing interest in research in the country."

He added, "The design of the space continues our quest to provide a comfortable working environment that encourages creativity and collaboration while being energy efficient and environment friendly."

"The last one year has been an exciting and exhilarating journey for the entire team. Apart from ensuring that the Yahoo India employees who joined Microsoft India R&D have a smooth transition and the combined team has a strong engineering charter, we also worked hard on designing our new home. It is indeed gratifying to see the journey finally conclude with our move to Vigyan at Cosmo Lavelle,” said Sanjay Anand, general manager, adCenter team at Bangalore MSIDC.

Source: 26. July. 2011, ciol.com