Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) has opened its second development center in Israel, a year after announcing plans for it. The company will begin intensive recruitment of 150 employees, mostly software developers, for the center next week, and plans to complete hiring within a few months. Microsoft Israel confirmed that the company would shortly begin recruitment.
The new development center is in Herzliya Pituah, not far from where the company’s offices were located until three years ago. A year ago, Microsoft corporate VP TV Division Moshe Lichtman returned to Israel to run the new center.
At the same time, Microsoft acquired three Israeli start-ups: Whale Communications, Gteko, and Secured Dimensions.
The present recruitment drive is possibly mainly intended for expanding the acquired companies. In addition, Microsoft plans to expand its development capability, which until now amounted to 200 development staff at its Haifa R&D center. The recruitment effort will open another front in Microsoft’s battle against its old-new rival, Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG), which is making its own recruitment drive for its R&D centers in Haifa and central Israel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on April 17, 2007
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