Microsoft joins hands with Korea at ‘forefront’

It was a busy day for Microsoft in Korea, with chief executive officer Steve Ballmer announcing several investment partnerships with Korean companies and the government, and an additional $30 million investment in local research facilities. The company signed memoranda of understanding with the Education Ministry for ubiquitous learning, with Samsung Corp. for ubiquitous apartments and with LG Nortel for VoIP collaboration. “Korea is at the forefront of embracing the IT revolution compared to other countries and Microsoft is investing in a fundamental belief in the power of innovation in research and development,” Mr. Ballmer said. Microsoft’s Mobile Innovation Lab, which was founded in March last year with a $30 million budget through 2008, will be expanded into an innovation center with an additional $30 million investment announced yesterday. In a morning meeting with Korea’s Information Minister Roh Jun-hyong, Mr. Ballmer discussed the company’s plans for expanding investment in Korea. Microsoft also signed a strategic alliance with Samsung Corp. to build digital homes. The two firms will jointly develop a business model for a home networking brand tentatively called “Housing Framework” exclusively for apartment units. They will also cooperate on technology and marketing to provide the system to housing units as early as next year. Microsoft also signed a memorandum of understanding with LG-Nortel, Korea’s largest telecommunications equipment firm, for joint marketing and development of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) video telephones based on the Windows CE 6.0 platform. Timed to coincide with Mr. Ballmer’s visit, Microsoft’s local office signed an MOU with the Education Ministry to develop software for the government’s ubiquitous “u-learning” project. by Wohn Dong-hee