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Archive for October, 2010

Oct 26

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Cloud computing and the future

You’ve probably heard of cloud computing a lot recently. It’s like one of the buzz words of the moment. Well, it has been for a while. There is a whole new industry behind it and also new concerns arise about the security provided. Some firms have used this as a possibility to tap into new markets, like create security as a service.  Others, have touched with hand the safety guarantees given by cloud computing platforms providers like Microsoft, and are happy to use them for business. Let’s explain. According to Wikipedia  Microsoft’ Azure Services Platform is “an application platform in the cloud that allows applications to be hosted and run at Microsoft’ datacenters. It provides a cloud operating system called Windows Azure that serves as a runtime for the applications and provides a set of services that allows development, management and hosting of applications off-premises”. The key points here are the trust and security offered to firms using Windows Azure services as well as the possibility to manage application from basically anywhere. article alley  reassures even the most skeptical ones that cloud computing technology “will be the wave of the future and will likely be changing how people use the info road for decades to come”.
Wikipedia gives also couple of examples of how and which company is using the Windows Azure platform and we note here an interesting application development. HR Locker, a Web 2.0 provider of  HR solutions to small to medium size companies was built on Window’s Azure cloud based computing platform. HR Locker chose to build their application on Windows Azure to avoid the worry of scalability, backup, security and the various other issues associated with hosting. This choice, provides the peace of mind that HR Locker customers deserve, as they are cared for.  So, if you are not convinced that SaaS are actually the future of business apps, pay a visit to the above mentioned free hr software website, and see for yourself.

Oct 6

China’s new labour law (well, not so new anymore…)

I just wanted to put out this post to bring myself and everyone else who’s new to this subject, up to date. In brief, since 01 January 2008 there has been a huge change in the Chinese employment law. Main changes, very summarised, are as follows: according to the Labor Contract Law (LCL) companies have to be legally compliant or they will be facing the chance to be sued. This translates into putting a written contract in place, as well as a written employee handbook, which should be maintained at all times. This is especially important from an employer point of view as without the publication of a handbook, they couldn’t be able to fire any employee as no cause can be established. These listed above are in brief the main changes which will affect employers, in particular foreign ones. I will follow up with more info about this topic as soon as possible.