Microsoft Corp said on Thursday that it would launch a new research laboratory aimed at developing technology for the Internet.

The Redmond, Washington-based company said the unit, called Live Labs, would be headed by Dr. Gary William Flake, a Microsoft technical fellow, and include staff from its online service MSN and its main research group.

The effort underscores the intensity of competition between Microsoft and Internet powers Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.. Research from the lab group will focus on a range of subjects, Microsoft said, including multimedia search, machine learning, distributed computing and data mining.