Tech News:
Global Dispatches: Microsoft breaks ground on R&D campus in China

May 13, 2008, 13:32

Microsoft Builds $280M Campus

Microsoft Corp. last week broke ground on a new research and development campus here and announced that it plans to double its Chinese research staff of 1,500 over an undisclosed period.

The new $280 million (U.S.) Microsoft China R&D Campus will include two buildings equipped with environmentally friendly features, such as solar water heaters and sensors that turn off the lights when a room is not in use, the company said.

The campus is scheduled to be completed in 2010, Microsoft said.
— Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service

Telstra Awarded Australian Pact
CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian Department of Defence has awarded a six-year, $162 million Australian ($153 million U.S.) contract to Telstra Corp. for telecommunication services.

Greg Combet, parliamentary secretary for defense procurement, said the contract calls for Melbourne-based Telstra to provide mobile phones and fixed-line voice, fixed-line data and broadband services to agency personnel.

Combet said that outsourcing the services will result in annual savings of more than $13 million Australian ($12.2 million U.S.)

The Australian Customs Service in Canberra also announced that it has awarded a $23 million Australian ($21.6million U.S.) contract to Telstra unit Kaz Group Pty. to support and maintain its applications. Sydney-based Kaz replaces Plano, Texas-based Electronic Data Systems Corp. as the agency's services provider. Sandra Rossi, Computerworld Australia

Briefly Noted
The Hong Kong Judiciary last week said it has awarded a five-year outsourcing contract to Unisys Corp. Under the contract, Unisys will provide ongoing application support and maintenance, network infrastructure, office automation and other IT services. The value of the pact was not disclosed.