MICROSOFT INVESTS IN LABOR SPECIALIST.

Byline: Robert Monroe Staff Writer

CAMARILLO - Labor management company eLabor will get more than $40 million in venture capital in a new partnership with Microsoft, the companies announced Wednesday.

The giant computer company will include eLabor's labor/resource management technology in its Microsoft Project 2000 program for large employers. With 500,000 users of the latest version of Microsoft Project, ``the potential is huge,'' said Patrick Egan, eLabor's director of marketing.

``The synergy between Microsoft Project and (eLabor product) Enterprise Project is really going to benefit customers,'' he said.

Microsoft is one of three investors participating in the second round of financing of eLabor, a privately held company. Lehman Bros. is leading the venture, with Brentwood Venture Capital also taking part. Microsoft's portion of the funding was not disclosed.

Currently, Enterprise Project is offered as an add-on to Microsoft Project, a program that allows employers to manage individual employee projects and analyze resources. The deal calls for Enterprise Project, which lets employers manage several projects at once, to become a part of the next version of Microsoft Project.

Analysts said alliances with Microsoft tend to dramatically improve the outlook for the Redmond, Wash.-based company's partners. Edward Jones analyst Art Russell said the move follows a Microsoft practice of partnering with small companies to get technologies it can't develop itself expediently.

``It's obviously good news for eLabor that Microsoft is using some of their technology,'' Russell said. ``In terms of marketplace endorsement, it validates their technology.''