oDesk has announced the launch of oDesk Groups and eleven initial launch partners. Each group is a marketplace sponsored by a partner organization that focuses on a specific language, skill, certification, or interest. Group members consist of service companies or professional contractors that are specialized in the partner’s technology and meet the partner’s membership criteria.

For partners, including Sun Microsystems, Yahoo!, and Network Solutions® - a group gives each company two major benefits – they get the infrastructure necessary to power a marketplace for their users and they can market to the thriving oDesk network of more than 250,000 service providers and 60,000 employers. By partnering with oDesk companies can quickly implement a team of experts to support and fulfill their products and services.

For providers of services – joining a group allows them to enhance their reputation on the oDesk network. It also gives them access to exclusive job openings that are available only to group members.

For buyers of services – a group makes it easy to find professionals that are certified experts in a given skill. One partner, Network Solutions, a leading provider of Web solutions for small businesses, launched a group for Web professionals familiar with Network Solutions products. Warren Smith, Director of Product Management at Network Solutions, says: "Launching a group on oDesk provides a valuable service that gives our community members access to custom development resources that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to provide."

Other groups include:

• Sun, for experts in Java Development and Solaris System Administration.
• Joomla!, for specialists in custom development and design on the CMS system.
• Zend, for PHP developers that have achieved the Zend Certified Engineer status.
• Yahoo!, will be launching an oDesk Group shortly for web developers to support Yahoo! Small Business Web Hosting customers.
• Additional launch partners can be seen in the Groups Directory, and include Drupal, PBworks, ClickTale, and ooVoo.

Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk, says: "With the launch of oDesk Groups, companies or organizations can now build vibrant marketplaces around their products, certifications, or just custom integrations of their APIs. It allows us to partner with the best companies and it’s a win-win for our community members and our partners’ users."