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Apple Inc., one of the world’s most-recognized technology companies, will open an office in Kanata, the Citizen has learned.

According to several sources in the Ottawa real estate community, the Cupertino, California, tech giant has leased a 22,000-square-foot space on the third floor of 411 Legget Drive after shopping for space in the capital area since at least October.

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Apple has repeatedly refused comment on its Ottawa expansion, and on Wednesday again would not discuss whether its office — relatively modest at about 2.5 times the size of an average Apple retail outlet — is the beginning of any planned larger presence in the capital.

The office is across the street from QNX Software Systems, a wholly owned division of BlackBerry Ltd. and a leading developer of the automotive software that is one of the tech industry’s hottest fields.

Ottawa Apple executive Sébastian Marineau-Mes is a former key QNX executive who left that company after a lengthy legal battle. Marineau-Mes, whose responsibilities included QNX’s auto software platforms and the BlackBerry 10 operating system, was originally hired by Apple in September 2013, but his departure was delayed after BlackBerry, citing non-compete clauses in his contract, fought the hiring in court.