BizTalk 2009

Why BizTalk?

BizTalk 2009 is a message broker SOA tool.  It is used to connect disparate systems and provided an entry point for connecting to your customers.  BizTalk does come at a cost; however with the “built-in” functionality it can cut development costs.

Some Features:

• Retry Capabilities
• Transaction Traceability
• BAM (Business Activity Monitoring
• Reliable (durable) messages
• LOB (Line of Business) Adapters to fit most integration points (Siebel, Oracle, HiPPA)

What’s New in BizTalk 2009 (Captured from http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/whats-new.aspx)

BizTalk Server 2009 introduces enhancements and new features in four main areas:

• Support for the latest platforms from Microsoft including server, database and development environment.
• Enhanced developer productivity and new application life cycle management experience for development teams.
• New capabilities for implementing agile SOA integration solutions across heterogeneous technologies and Line of Business systems.
• Enhanced B2B and RFID capabilities to allow the implementation of flexible end-to-end supply chain management and asset tracking solutions.

Top New Features

BizTalk Server 2009 introduces enhancements and new features in four main areas:

Updated Platform Support

• Support for Visual Studio 2008 SP1
• Support for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
• Support for Windows Server 2008
• Virtualization support with Hyper-V
• Support for SQL Server 2008

Developer & Team Productivity

• New Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) experience – with Support for TFS – integrated source control, bug tracking, unit testing, MSBuild automation
• Enhanced Developer Productivity with Visual Studio project system updates & Map Debugging

SOA and Web Services

• ESB Toolkit 2.0
• New UDDI v3 Web Services Registry
• New and enhanced LOB adapters (Oracle eBusiness Suite, SQL Server)
• Enhanced host systems integration (WebSphere MQ, CICS, IMS)
• Enhanced BAM support

Business to Business Integration

• New Mobile RFID Platform
• New RFID device management and industry standards support
• Enhanced Support for EDI and AS2 Protocols and Drummond certification
• Updated SWIFT Support and SWIFTReady Financial EAI Gold certification

Enough on the sales pitch, my next post will dive into the factoids and creating your first BizTalk application.