Microsoft Corp., seeking to expand in the medical sector, has agreed to acquire the assets of a privately held, Thailand-based health information system company, the software company said Monday.

Global Care Solutions Ltd., or GCS, specializes in creating software modules for hospitals' clinical and administrative operations, allowing them to run more smoothly.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The Bangkok-based company, whose core product was first marketed in 2000, has implemented its systems in seven hospitals in the Asia-Pacific region. They are based on Microsoft software products that already exist.

Neupert said that the deal, under which Microsoft will acquire software, intellectual property and other assets of GCS, would allow the technology to be marketed worldwide.

In Thailand, GCS has worked closely in developing its products with Bumrungrad International Hospital, which says that the company's system has helped it bring the average waiting time to see a doctor down to 17 minutes.

The development of Global Care technology will remain in Bangkok, and Microsoft said that it would continue to work closely with Bumrungrad hospital.

Microsoft signaled its interest in the health care sector last year when it bought Azyxxi, a software system to collect and display real-time patient data.

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