AACHEN, Germany — Feb. 26, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of its first Microsoft Embedded Systems Development Centre (MESDC) in Aachen, Germany. The MESDC is part of Microsoft’s effort to expand regional development centers in Denmark, France, Ireland, Serbia, the U.K. and other countries across Europe. The center will support global product development and drive smart, connected, service-oriented device development.

Located within the European Microsoft Innovation Centre (EMIC) in Aachen, the MESDC is a significant part of the $75 million (U.S.) global R&D investment that the Windows Embedded Business is making in Europe this fiscal year.

“Due to the immense engineering talent pool and high concentration of enterprise customers and key Windows Embedded partners in the region, we see tremendous growth opportunities for the Windows Embedded Business in Europe,” said Kevin Dallas, general manager of the Windows Embedded Business at Microsoft. “In addition, the MESDC is a significant part of Microsoft’s ongoing investment in research and development in the European Union. Our MESDC venture builds on our presence in Europe and further enables our dedicated partners to bring to market smart, connected, service-oriented devices.”

The MESDC will support global product R&D, drive development of new and innovative features of Microsoft’s embedded operating systems, and accelerate collaboration between the U.S.-based Microsoft product groups and their counterparts in Europe. The MESDC will also support the needs of the active Windows Embedded customer and partner ecosystem in Europe by engaging with select members of this group to showcase high-visibility embedded systems projects that accelerate embedded development in the enterprise. Microsoft estimates that out of the 3 billion embedded devices shipping this year, about two-thirds of them will be connected to a network or management service. Microsoft expects the market for connected devices in the enterprise to grow at a rate of 23 percent per year between 2006 and 2010.

“The MESDC will form an integral part of helping us recruit outstanding embedded systems engineers across Europe to perform product R&D, and the MESDC located in the EMIC in Aachen provides a very conducive environment for these engineers to spearhead incubation projects and accelerate technology transfer and collaborative efforts within Microsoft,” said John LeFor, director of the European Microsoft Innovation Center in Aachen.

Microsoft will start recruiting embedded systems engineers for the MESDC this month. The goal by the end of 2008 is to bring on board up to 15 engineers, who will work closely with the U.S. Windows Embedded product development team based in Redmond, Wash.

Microsoft has a complete embedded product family that supports the extremely diverse needs of the embedded device market: Windows Embedded CE, Windows XP Embedded and Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS).

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

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