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Amazon web services site has a new article on “Deploying ASP.NET applications on Amazon EC2”. The article link is here: http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/entry.jspa?externalID=1791

The article provides a step by step guide to deploy your .NET application on Amazon.  Please read it for any production setup of your .NET application on the AWS cloud. It offers significant savings in terms of time and money from an in-house model or a datacenter hosted model.

Of course, if you would want to build (develop) and test your .NET application, you can always subscribe to a pre-configured .NET desktop (running Visual Studio express/ professional) and servers from 8KMiles. You need not to perform any account setup on AWS and also don’t have to do any configuration. It is a “one click” subscribe and start offering. You can use the 8KMiles VCE for development (with multiple remote programmers) as well as testing (functional / load /UAT) and you would only have to pay for the usage. The 8KMiles marketplace also has a huge number of verified and qualified .NET developers. Do check it out!

Small and medium businesses may choose to outsource work for a variety of reasons. However, there are 3 key challenges or decision factors that are common to all businesses:

1. Addressing staffing and expertise shortfalls
   
2. Reducing security risks
   
3. Reducing costs (of infrastructure, software, people)

At 8KMiles, we have built our Virtual Outsourcing Ecosystem effectively addressing these challenges facing the small and medium businesses. Our growing talent pool of verified professionals and small IT companies can be leveraged for on-demand access to talent across technologies and domains. Be it a healthcare firm looking for iPhone, Android or J2ME developers to mobile-enable their solutions or a manufacturing firm requiring CRM customization expertise, 8KMiles can quickly service their needs.

The 8KMiles ecosystem enables businesses to benefit from the services of a verified and assessed talent pool and qualified Project Managers / Project Management companies. With top quality talent and capable managers, buyers can be assured of high quality, on-time project delivery. Additionally, since the ecosystem consists of “Real People”, businesses sign contracts (and Non Disclosure Agreements) that are legally valid.

Our Virtual Computing environments (VCE) help secure source code / data and provide real time project collaboration & tracking capabilities. They can significantly reduce IT infrastructure costs and are well suited for application testing too.

In a nutshell, 8KMiles can address the outsourcing needs of small and medium sized businesses very effectively. Through the 8KMiles model, business owners can stay in complete control of the project, without having to worry about overheads in terms of cost, security issues and talent availability.

Nasscom, the apex body for software in India has predicted that IT / BPO export revenues would cross $50 billion in 2010, a growth of 5.5%. An important thing mentioned in the report is that more and more companies are looking at a value driven model. It also mentions that there could be a slowdown in offshoring due to protectionist measures in the US.

At 8KMiles, we believe that the time has come to take outsourcing beyond traditional onshore, nearshore and offshore models. With the Internet increasingly becoming the fulcrum of businesses, we have taken outsourcing to the cloud. Whether it is about access to people or project collaboration tools or IT infrastructure, you get to use it on-demand and only pay for what is being used. This essentially means you pay for the value you get and you pay only when the outcome you desire is achieved. Do give it a spin and experience the model first hand!

As an SMB, you often face the challenge of ramping up resources per project needs and then ensuring optimal utilization of those resources for the duration of the project and beyond. While you strive hard to contain the time, cost, and effort you spend on this endeavor, contingencies such as market downturn and unforeseen attrition, can change the course of your projects. What then, can you do to reduce the risk you face from such scenarios?

Planning your growth and the scalability of resources is certainly a possibility. However, in order to keep up with your deliverables amidst phases of unplanned growth, you need the right talent, infrastructure, tools and processes. Availability of all these per your requirements will help you keep your operating costs low, ensure optimum resource utilization at all times, and let your internal resources focus on crucial business tasks.

At 8KMiles, we make all these, a possibility through our online strategic sourcing ecosystem. Every service provider on our ecosystem has been through an identity verification process. Additionally, they can also undergo a proctored assessment to prove their technical capabilities. This assures you of reliable people and firms to partner with. 8KMiles offers a model where you have on-demand access to not only quality talent (technology professionals and project managers) but also to remote desktop and server infrastructure.

Whether you are looking to leverage freelancers, project managers, cloud delivered remote desktops / servers on-demand, 8KMiles acts as your single stop sourcing platform. You can save substantially on people / infrastructure acquisition and management costs, and channelize these funds toward other important activities.

With 8KMiles, the profitability of your business is now a choice you can make!

This is how 8KMiles works

We are glad that we have been selected as "Microsoft startup of the day".

Below is the snapshot of the article,

The company of the day is 8KMiles.com, based in India. 8KMiles.com is an online ecosystem of verified professionals and companies for outsourcing of software and knowledge services over the internet. You will find below an interview with Padmanabhan Raghavan, Co-founder & Chief Evangelist of 8KMiles.com. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!

Interview with Padmanabhan Raghavan, Co-founder & Chief Evangelist of 8KMiles.com

Who are you?

Co-founder & Chief Evangelist, 8KMiles.com

How do you feel being the most promising ‘company of the day’ per Microsoft?    

It is an amazing feeling. Any recognition for a startup is great. And Microsoft recognizing 8KMiles as a promising startup is a great motivation for all of us.

What did you do before creating your company?        

All of the founding team members were into software development and services. While most of us were into engineering, one of the partners was running his software services firm in the US.

How did you get the idea? What s the genesis?           

The partner who was running the software services firm in the US got requests for custom software development from many SMB’s. However, these projects were too small and subsequently the overheads were too high to be considered fit for the traditional outsourcing model. We got together and decided that we can offer a compelling outsourcing solution for SMB’s and start-ups without compromising on quality, security and control. That’s how 8KMiles was born.

What do you sell? What is your company’s mission?

8KMiles.com is an online ecosystem of verified professionals and companies for outsourcing of software and knowledge services completely over the internet. The 8KMiles ecosystem provides the people, hardware, software and tools required for outsourcing on-demand effectively enabling a no cap-ex model of “Software Development-as-a-Service”. 

8KMiles provides access to quality talent as well as access to pre-built infrastructure (development / testing stacks) delivered from the cloud. Using 8KMiles, SMB’s, Start-ups and IT consulting companies can build their virtual development and testing teams and monitor and collaborate in real time with them. 8KMiles is a no cap-ex virtual outsourcing option for companies. 

Mission: 8KMiles is a company that is leveraging collaboration, networking and technology to enable a new delivery model for software and other services. Our goal is to make remote service delivery easy, secure, reliable and transparent.

What is your market?               

8KMiles’ solution is targeted at SMB’s, start-up businesses and IT consulting and contracting companies who are looking at a no cap-ex, cost efficient and reliable outsourcing model.

Any clients? References? Partners?

A retail library chain is building its library application with a virtual team from 8KMiles. There are other companies that leverage the 8KMiles model to bring down their development costs. We have a relationship with Microsoft (SPLA) through which we can offer licensed Microsoft software on a subscription model. We also have a partnership with a video conferencing vendor (ooVoo) and an assessment firm (Merittrac). We have built our virtual computing environment on top of the Amazon cloud. These partnerships add value to our users and make the 8KMiles offering compelling and beneficial.

You can view the complete article here

- Pranesh

  Team 8KMiles

A buyer in 8KMiles is an individual (or a company represented by individual) who is looking at outsourcing to verified talent (or team) without any capex worries. So if you have a requirement and are looking to hire and manage a virtual team to get the work done then

• Sign up with 8KMiles as a service buyer (choose the option “Buyer” at the time of sign up).
  
• Login to 8KMiles and fill in your profile including the company details (if you own one).
  
• Setup 8KMiles account (payment instrument) by providing your credit card or bank account (US bank accounts only) details.
  
• Once you setup your credit card or bank account, 8kmiles would post two small transactions (debit) to your payment instrument.
  
• View your credit card or bank account statement and note down the two transaction amounts. Login to 8KMiles and go to “Setup Payment” menu option. Click on the “Authorize” option under the “Action” button against your credit card or bank account. Enter those two transaction amount. On successful entry, your account gets verified and you can go ahead and post your project.
  
  • Why do we ask our buyers to go through the payment verification steps? – The simple answer is to ensure trust within marketplace. This is not a sign up fee and reverse transactions for the same amount would immediately be posted to your credit card / bank account.
    
• Once your payment method is setup and authorized, go to the projects menu option and post your requirement as a project. There are many options provided to specify your requirement clearly. Give as many details as you can – helps in getting the right person for your project.
  
• Once you post your requirement, the project would be visible in search results and potential providers would start sending their proposals. You also have the option of keeping the project as “Invite Only”, search for providers and invite them to send proposals.
  
• After getting multiple proposals and evaluating them (you may use the video conferencing facility to schedule a quick face to face session and talk to the provider), you start setting up the contract terms with your provider.
  
• While creating the contract, you can setup the milestones to be met based on which the provider would be paid.
  
• Once the provider accepts the mutually agreed upon contract, the provider becomes part of the project and can start the work.
  
• You may subscribe to one of the available Virtual Computing Environments (VCE) and give access to the provider. The provider can start the work in VCE and the entire environment remains within the VCE. Please refer to the help section to understand more on VCE.
  
• On completion of milestones, provider would raise invoices for the same. You may pay the invoice using one of the verified payment instruments.
  
• There are tools like project space, video conferencing that enable collaboration during the project execution. You may use them during the due course of your project execution as and when required.
  
• You may also use the project management services available to hire a project manager for your project.
  

Hope this has provided some insights on how to get started with 8KMiles. If you have any queries, please send it across to support@8KMiles.com. We will be more than happy to assist you.

Cheers,

Raghu

Team 8KMiles

A Service Provider in 8KMiles is an independent professional or a company looking for software or knowledge work. Following are the sequence of steps for a Service Provider to get started on 8KMiles.

• Sign up with 8KMiles as a “Service Provider” (please choose “Service Provider” as the option during signup). If you are running a company then you can choose the option “I represent a company” to indicate so.
  
• Setup your profile including educational background, work experience, certifications, references, etc. Also upload a government issued photo ID card.
  
• After your profile is setup, it would be picked for verification. Our team goes through the profile entered by you and verifies the photo ID card uploaded. After this, your profile is marked as “Verified” (You will see a “Verified” sign next your profile).
  
  • Why do we verify profile? – 8KMiles firmly believes on “Real People” executing “Real Projects” at “Real Time”. We verify the profiles of all the providers who sign up on 8KMiles to make sure they are serious professionals looking for work. We want to build a credible and trustworthy ecosystem. We do not display the documents in public without your explicit consent and we also take all the necessary measures to securely store them in our servers.
    
• After your profile is verified, start searching for projects by clicking on the top menu “Find Work”. This would list down all the projects posted by verified buyers in the 8KMiles marketplace. (Our marketing and Biz.dev folks are working hard to bring in projects across domains and technologies and you would see a lot of projects very soon)
  
• Find projects that match your skills (use the filters provided in the search screen) and start sending proposals to them.
• When you are sending proposals, please give complete description on how you are going to execute the project, the timelines, etc. A well thought out, custom made proposal would definitely interest the buyer and you stand more chance of winning the project.
• If the buyer likes your proposal, a formal contract would be sent across mentioning the terms of engagement. Optionally the buyer may choose to have a video conference with you before finalizing your proposal.
• Once you receive a formal contract, you can accept the same if you are fine with the terms. Otherwise, you have the option of modifying the contract terms and sending it back to the buyer.
• Once the contract is mutually agreed upon, the project is kicked off.
• Either the Buyer can subscribe to a VCE and assign it to you or you can subscribe to a VCE yourself. We strongly recommend the use of VCE for any project as it saves you significant setup and configuration time and also helps in real time collaboration with your buyer or other project members. Also, a VCE is a reliable proof of the work you have carried out and it can help if you get into arbitration mode.
• As you complete the work and meet the milestones set in the contract terms, you may raise an invoice to your buyer.
• Once the buyer pays the invoice, the amount will be credited to 8KMiles account and we would disburse it to your account shortly.
• As a provider you have various options of collaborating with other providers - using the exclusive project space created for that project, forming virtual teams (I will talk about it in a separate post), participating in forums and blogs...

Apart from the mainstream “Provider” role, we have other set of interesting roles like “Project Manager” and “Service Broker” which suits professionals with Project Management and Sales background respectively. Hope this clarified your basic set of questions on what 8KMiles Service Provider is and how a Service Provider can leverage 8KMiles. If you have any queries, please send it across to support@8KMiles.com. We will be more than happy to assist you.

If you are an IT professional, you can also check out freedomishere.in to find your freedom quotient.

I will have a post tomorrow explaining the steps for a Service Buyer.

Cheers,
Raghu
Team 8KMiles

8KMiles.com will be launched at the Web 2.0 expo in San Francisco today (March 31st 2009).  8KMiles will be available as public beta and users can register from the 8KMiles home page.

8KMiles is an online ecosystem of verified professionals and companies for outsourcing of software and other knowledge services (such as Design, Legal Processes or Accounting) “completely” over the internet. The 8KMiles ecosystem makes available both the people and the infrastructure (Software and Hardware) required on-demand.

The 8KMiles ecosystem is built to benefit

• Small and Medium businesses looking at efficient outsourcing without cap-ex
• IT companies looking to expand their teams virtually without losing control
• People with Sales/Business development skills who want to leverage their network and earn more
• People with Project Management and Domain expertise to earn to their potential
• Individuals who are looking for work freedom and want to work on projects matching their skills and interests (with virtually no limit to earnings!).

These are only a few highlights of how users benefit from 8KMiles. You can get a clearer picture by reading through our Help section and by actually registering and using the application.

8KMiles is not just a marketplace where Service Buyers locate and hire Service Providers. It is an ecosystem of businesses and individuals with different roles - such as Sales / Account Manager, Project Manager, Service Provider and Service Buyer, coupled with virtual computing infrastructure delivered from the cloud. The 8KMiles ecosystem models real world outsourcing without the overheads – location-related constraints, limited scalability and capital expenditure.

8KMiles is about “doing more with less”. Service Buyers can get more work done by spending a lot less than they traditionally do (more bang for the buck), Service Providers can earn more by working for lesser time (8KMiles brings in more efficiency as the Service Provider’s credibility is built on the work they do) and travelling a lot lesser, Sales Managers and Project Managers can earn more business with less travel and lesser hassles of management (8KMiles is a single point resource for managing multiple projects and people all by staying at home or any location of your choice).

In the current economic situation, with cost savings being the top priority for every business, 8KMiles is a compelling option to stay competitive by outsourcing at market-determined prices, in an environment that ensures quality and control. Let us redefine the future of online outsourcing - get on board now!

 "An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come." – Victor Hugo
 
8KMiles, an online ecosystem of verified professionals and companies for outsourcing of software and other knowledge services over the internet is officially open to users starting today as an invite-only Alpha.
 
8KMiles is a place for "Real People" to work on "Real Projects" in "Real Time".
 
You can participate in the Alpha program as a Service Buyer (one who would wants to cost effectively outsource to qualified professionals) or as a Service Provider (one who wants to offer services like programming, testing etc) or as a Project Manager (one who wants to manage the requirements of the Service Buyer using the Service Provider/s from the 8KMiles ecosystem). There will soon be another very interesting user role.
 
Apart from the primary activities like posting, bidding, contracts, milestones, payments and the unique virtual computing environment, you can also participate in the forums. You can of course check out the help section to know more about the features.
 
This is an alpha release and would be constantly changing for good. There are very compelling features that would be introduced in the days and weeks to come. There will also be things that need to be fixed. We urge you to provide your feedback to the 8KMiles team.
 
Behind the 8KMiles application, there is a very dedicated, passionate and user focussed team. You can be assured that you are in safe hands.
 
We strongly believe the time has come for the 8KMiles idea to take off. We believe equally strongly that you as users are the ones to make it happen.
 
Let's change the world!!!
 
- The 8KMiles Team