REDMOND, Washington, April 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- FAST CEO John Markus Lervik to lead Microsoft's enterprise search 
business.

Microsoft Corp today announced that it has completed settlement of its
tender offer for Fast Search & Transfer ASA, a leading provider of enterprise
search solutions. Microsoft's plans to acquire FAST were originally announced
8 Jan 2008. FAST will operate as a Microsoft subsidiary, with a dedicated
enterprise search research and development centre in Oslo, Norway, and
offices throughout the world.

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"With our companies combined, we'll be uniquely able to offer customers
what they've been telling us they want most -- a strategy for meeting
everything from their basic to most complex enterprise search needs," said
Jeff Teper, corporate vice president for the Office Business Platform at
Microsoft. "I'm incredibly excited to have the talented team from FAST
joining us."

John Markus Lervik will transition from his role as FAST CEO to become
Microsoft's corporate vice president of Enterprise Search, reporting to
Teper. Under Lervik's leadership, the group's charter will include the
development of a comprehensive portfolio of enterprise search offerings,
including Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express, search for Microsoft Office
SharePoint Server 2007 and FAST ESP, and future delivery of a single
enterprise search platform.

"From the moment I started talking to Microsoft about the prospect of
bringing our talent and technology together, I realised what a powerful
impact we could have on the way companies use search to drive new revenue
streams and improve productivity," Lervik said. "Together we'll deliver
better technologies that make enterprise search a ubiquitous tool, central to
how people find and use information."

Existing FAST customers will continue to be served by their FAST sales,
services and support teams, while the combined product lineup immediately
extends customer choice. Further innovation across the entire enterprise
search portfolio -- on Microsoft Windows as well as on Linux and UNIX -- will
help ensure that Microsoft and FAST customers receive best-in-class offerings
to meet their current and future needs.

About Microsoft

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

About Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)

Microsoft has operated in EMEA since 1982. In the region Microsoft
employs more than 16,000 people in over 64 subsidiaries, delivering products
and services in more than 139 countries and territories.

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