| Seminar seeks ways to help SMEs
HA NOI � Reforms need to be made to the laws governing land-ownership, credit and human resources to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas, economic experts said at a seminar in Ha Noi last Wednesday. The seminar was organised by the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD) and the Spanish International Co-operation Agency. A survey conducted by the General Statistics Office last year showed that 34 per cent of the country�s 74,000 rural enterprises suffered financial losses last year compared with 24 per cent in 2000. Profit ratios reported by rural enterprises also dropped, particularly in the service sector. The seminar heard that SMEs in rural areas were facing a number of difficulties relating to capital, land, infrastructure and labour quality.
Small business in cross hairs of software piracy crackdown
WASHINGTON (AP) - Michael Gaertner worried he could lose his company. A group called the Business Software Alliance had written him to claim that his 10-person architectural firm in Galveston was using unlicensed software. The letter demanded $67,000 or else the BSA would seek more in court. That amount of money represents most of 1 year's profit at Gaertner's firm. An analysis by The Associated Press reveals that targeting small businesses is a lucrative strategy for the Business Software Alliance. That's the main global copyright-enforcement watchdog for such companies as Microsoft, Adobe Systems and Symantec. Of the $13 million that the BSA reaped in software violation settlements with North American companies last year, the AP found that almost 90% came from small businesses.
Storage Technology & Network Solutions
Nov 20 — MiraLink Corporation, a provider of remote disaster recovery solutions, introduced the MiraLink 500f, an enterprise class disaster recovery appliance with Fibre Channel. The MiraLink 500f is designed for small and medium businesses (SMBs) to protect business-critical data at Gigabit speed. The new 500f is platform agnostic and is designed to work seamlessly with Fibre Channel SANs, providing businesses with increased flexibility, reliability and immediate recoverability. The company's new MiraSync feature allows faster synchronization and deployment between two devices to eliminate the headache and problems commonly associated with deploying, recovering and managing remote replication. “SMBs need to protect their business critical data in the same capacity as large enterprises in event of a disaster," said Ron McCabe, CEO of MiraLink.
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