eLabor announced a partnership with Microsoft to develop its workforce management software suite on the .NET platform. The Camarillo, Calif.-based eLabor offers products in four areas: recruitment management, labor management, contractor management and project management.
| First it was Windows on every computer, then Internet Explorer on every deskotp. Now Microsoft looks to continue its dominance with .NET — its platform for Web services. But what exactly is .NET? Click here for full story |
“It will probably take five years before all the parts of the .NET platform are available,” eLabor president and CEO Michael Edell told ASPnews. But the benefits of .NET will be evident long before that. “I think you’ll see a big jump in services in the next 24 months — things like WAP (wireless application protocol) services,” Edell told ASPnews.
The .NET framework is essentially a common foundation that supports a multitude of different programming languages in an interoperable fashion.
“The .NET platform is beyond a developer tool. It allows for reuseable components. For ASPs that means more components for security, provisioning, data center and load balancing,” Edell said.
The announcement to support .NET is not the beginning of the courtship between eLabor and Microsoft. “Microsoft has been an investor since mid 1999. They sit on our board,” Edell said.
In addition to its deep resources and influence, Edell has high praise for the software giant’s vision in terms of eLabor’s products and the ASP market. “They understood the larger, broader theory of workforce management. They get it.” Edell said. “And Microsoft understood the concept of ASP before others. They know a good thing and they don’t look short-term.”
eLabor’s products are available in both a hosted or licensed model and are designed to automate repetitive day-to-day activities.
In addition to the .NET announcement, eLabor recently announced it is delivering its enterprise-wide project management solutions as an ASP for Microsoft Project 2000, Enterprise Project and Microsoft Project Central.
