Microsoft Boosts B2B Integration with BizTalk Server 2006

Published: April 11, 2006

by Alex Woodie

There is no doubt Microsoft wants to dominate the business software market like it does the consumer market. At the same time, the software behemoth realizes it's coming up against platforms that are embedded into the psyche of some businesses, such as IBM's OS/400 server. While Microsoft's long-term strategy is to displace competing platforms like the iSeries, it is also taking a more pragmatic approach, including surrounding and extending these core platforms with new capabilities, and the impending launch of BizTalk Server 2006 is a good example of this.

Two weeks ago, Microsoft announced the release to manufacturing (RTM) of BizTalk Server 2006. In Microsoft-speak, RTM signals that the product is ready to go, and that it will start arriving on shelves in a short period of time (several weeks to more than a month in some cases).

As the big new release of its core enterprise application integration (EAI) platform, BizTalk Server 2006 is important for a couple of reasons. First, it was designed in conjunction with two other critical components of Microsoft's business application development strategy, SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005, which have been available for several months.

Also, the new features in BizTalk Server 2006--the fourth major release of the product following releases in 2000, 2002, and 2004--should put the product on the shortlist of organizations considering implementing a messaging backbone for conducting B2B across disparate platforms, especially among organizations that use the iSeries, which tend to be heavily invested in Windows servers for complementary and adjunct roles.

In terms of features, BizTalk Server 2006 contains major and minor enhancements. For OS/400 shops, the most important news may be the addition of 23 new adapters that automate much of the work of pulling data from, and pushing it to, certain platforms, ERP applications, and databases. With this release, Microsoft is now providing adapters for Oracle's J.D. Edwards EnterpriseOne ERP suite (sorry, no support for World within BizTalk), its Siebel CRM software, its PeopleSoft Enterprise ERP software, and the Oracle database software, in addition to an adapter for SAP apps. These 12 adapters, which Microsoft acquired last August from connector-builder iWay Software, are included in the cost of the software, while another 12 or so are available for an additional fee.

In addition to the new adapters, Microsoft has added features in the area of business activity monitoring (BAM) and enterprise single sign-on (SSO). In terms of BAM, Microsoft says it's made it easier to configure the software to monitor a particular process of a business application (such as how many purchase orders are approved per day), and to display that data as a key performance indicator (KPI). BAM alerts and links to KPI displays can now be sent via e-mail or other communication channels, the company says.

What's more, while previous versions of BizTalk Server could only monitor business activities occurring within BizTalk "orchestrations" (or the ebb and flow of processes among connected systems, as mapped out by the BizTalk Server developer using either Visual Studio or Visio), with this release, the software can now accept and display events generated by any user code, whether or not it's built as an orchestration, as long as the software was built with the .NET Framework, or WinFX controls, which will debut next year with Windows Vista.

The new SSO capability within BizTalk Server 2006 provides a way to map a Windows user ID to non-Windows user credentials, including those stored on mainframe, Unix, and other systems, and to pass the encrypted user name and password to the requesting application when required. While it won't solve all of an organization's sign-on problems, Microsoft admits, it can make things simpler for business processes that use applications on diverse systems.

Microsoft has also increased its pricing with this release. BizTalk Server 2006 costs $30,000 per processor, up from $25,000 per processor with the previous release. Keep in mind Microsoft has a generous policy on multi-core pricing, and charges customers the same whether their processors are of the single-core or dual-core variety.

For more information on BizTalk Server 2006, visit www.microsoft.com/biztalk/evaluation/overview/default.mspx.