Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer is to travel throughout Europe this week on a whistlestop tour of governments, customers, partners and employees.

The firm announced details of the tour this morning, explaining that during a five-day trip Ballmer would visit Oslo, London, Paris and Lisbon.

It is unlikely that Ballmer will have much time for sightseeing as he will visit customers, partners, government leaders, media and local employees to further explain "the potential of technology, the company's business strategy and citizenship commitments".

One area Ballmer is keen to discuss is Microsoft's virtualisation strategy, and he will meet with 600 IT professionals, customers and partners in Copenhagen to do just this.

In London Ballmer will use the firm's partner summit to talk about Microsoft's software plus services plans, and will address IT managers at the TechNet Server and tools event.

Here, the firm said, he will explain how "the world of IT is changing and how Microsoft is responding to this change with major advances in Microsoft Server products".

Lucky guests in France will hear Ballmer talk about connected lifestyles, while Portuguese delegates will be entertained with tales of the continued need for public/private partnerships.