Microsoft rolls out next release of BizTalk Server

Computerworld - Microsoft Corp. today announced that the fifth major release of its BizTalk Server is now generally available.

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 is designed to allow a company to extend its business processes to the corporate "edge" to collect RFID data from a warehouse or link with trading partners, Microsoft said. The company planned to unveil R2 in Taiwan to emphasize the focus on the supply chain in this release; Microsoft views the Asia-Pacific region as "a primary hub for manufacturing and the supply chain," said Burley Kawasaki, a director in Microsoft's connected systems division.

"Your whole supply chain infrastructure needs to be enterprise-class," Kawasaki said. "We think about supply chains as needing to be up 24 by 7, and it doesn't matter if you are a Wal-Mart site or a mom-and-pop [shop]. We're ready for handling very demanding enterprise-type scenarios ... [to] extend out to the edge of the enterprise."

R2 includes native support for RFID and EDI and also adds support for regulations like SWIFT, HL7, HIPAA and RosettaNet that are aimed at supporting various vertical industries such as health care and financial services.

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 is also available in a new Branch Edition aimed at supporting the connection of intraorganizational supply chain processes.

Microsoft today also released for testing BizTalk Server Adapter Pack Beta 2, which is focused on helping companies integrate business applications from SAP AG, Oracle Corp. and Siebel Systems. The adapters work with BizTalk Server 2006 R2, SQL Server 2005 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, and are scheduled to be available in the first half of next year.

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 is available in four different editions:

• Enterprise Edition, aimed at large enterprises, for $34,999 per processor.
• Standard Edition, for midsize businesses or departments, which costs $8,499 per processor.
• Branch Edition, for $1,799 per processor.
• Developer Edition, which is limited to designing, developing and testing, for $499 per developer.