BizTalk Utilities

What is BizTalk Server?

BizTalk Server provides a powerful set of middleware features. It establishes a messaging hub on par with the best of contemporary application servers. This is why organizations are looking to BizTalk to solve large-scale and complex business requirements. Typically, this translates into sophisticated business automation based on intricate business processes with detailed workflow logic. BizTalk is powerful, but it is by no means complete. It is not uncommon to deploy BizTalk and begin custom developing components to extend its native functionality. While the flexibility to customize BizTalk exists, it can be an expensive task, as in-house components need to undergo the rigor of any development project, including design, build, test, deployment, and maintenance phases. All of this requires skilled resources, a good-sized budget, and lots of time.

Why BizTalk Utilities?

Fortunately, there is better way to achieve many of the commonly required extensions to the BizTalk environment. The BizTalk Utilities suite of products provides a array of specialized components, designed specifically to enhance and expand upon BizTalk. Have a look at just some of the ways in which BizTalk Utilities broadens the functional scope of BizTalk Server:

• extend communication to incorporate POP3 e-mail servers
• allow for read and write interaction with FTP servers
• enable the receipt or transmission of documents via SMTP
• provide notification of message arrivals in the BizTalk suspended queue
• allow for the export and import of BizTalk Server and BizTalk Utilities configuration settings
• extend the BizTalk Editor to support the import of XSD schemas
• enable manual refresh of document definitions
• allow for access to MS Exchange Web Storage System repositories, via the WebDAV protocol
• add notification services for disabled receive functions
• support for BizTalk documents to be transmitted to fax servers
• adapter for two-way communication with IBM MQ Series
• integrate Web services through SOAP support
• enable two-way integration with Active JMS-compliant messaging servers
• allow for the creation of reusable Functoid scripts through the introduction of “ScriptToids”
• adapters for popular data access protocols, including ODBC and OLE DB
• adapters for contemporary database platforms, including SQL Server and Oracle
• direct integration with SQL Server Notification Services
• support for SQLXML templates
• comprehensive SAP integration support through a specialized connector

How it works

Components are installed individually, allowing you to extend your BizTalk environment as required. The diagram below illustrates the many new communication channels opened by adding BizTalk Utilities to a native BizTalk Server environment.

Deployment Wizardry

An important characteristic of any BizTalk Utilities component is the ease in which it can be deployed and maintained. Unlike most back-end products, BizTalk Utilities places an emphasis on delivering user-friendly installation and configuration screens. These are provided through Wizards that intuitively step the user through the set up process. Each component is accompanied by its own Wizard. Not only does this reduce the cost and complexity of implementation, it establishes a consistent user experience across the entire BizTalk family of products.

Summary

Reducing cost, effort, and complexity are increasingly critical success factors in any contemporary solution. BizTalk Utilities is a logical choice for any enterprise wanting to efficiently and safely extend its BizTalk environment.

To learn more about individual BizTalk Utilities components, adapters, and connectors, visit the links below:

• For more information about BizTalk Utilities adapters, see BizTalk Utilities and Adapters.
• For more information about BizTalk Utilities connectors, see BizTalk Utilities and Connectors.
• For more information about BizTalk Utilities support for messaging servers, see BizTalk Utilities and Messaging.
• For more information about SAP integration support provided by BizTalk Utilities, see BizTalk Utilities and SAP.

To learn more about these and other features, download an evaluation copy of BizTalk Utilities