Alibaba to offer SMEs online management software for free

Apr. 2, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Alisoft, the software unit of the world's leading B2B e-commerce portal Alibaba. com Ltd<1688>, said on Tuesday that it will invest RMB 1 billion in the next three years, in a bid to expand the application of its online management software products among China's small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The RMB 1 billion investment will be used in software development and marketing. In the meantime, the company will set up cloud computing centers that provide SaaS (software as a service) to Alibaba's customers.

Alisoft said that it will provide the online management software for free during that period and offer 1 million part-time jobs for college students, according to sources.

The company also aims to attract 100 million online software users by 2011.

Source: http://alibaba.bblog.pl/