Microsoft will open an on-line software maintenance centre in Bulgaria within a year.

On July 3 Microsoft Bulgaria managing director Teodor Milev and Plamen Vachkov from the State Agency for Information Technology and Communications (SAITC) signed a co-operation memorandum, Dnevnik newspaper wrote.

The centre in Sofia will also serve clients in Slovenia, Macedonia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Greece, Milev said. Microsoft refused to provide information on the amount of the investment and the new work places, saying the company in charge of the project requested confidentiality.

The Bulgarian centre would be larger than the one in Romania as it covered the full spectrum of maintenance services, Dnevnik wrote.

Microsoft chose Bulgaria and Romania for the construction of the maintenance centres because of the highly qualifies IT experts in the two countries, the stable economy and the development opportunities, Milev added.

In the future Microsoft will offer Windows in Bulgarian, Milev added. The Bulgarian version of the planned Windows Visa and Microsoft Office 2007 will be released only three to four months after their launch.