BizTalk 2006 Launch yesterday and new packaging announced

Yesterday was a big day for Microsoft and ofcourse also for us developers. Im happy with the next release of Microsoft BizTalk Server.

Microsoft announced yesterday that BizTalk Server 2006 packaging has undergone some significant changes, namely all adapters in the box, and inclusion of functionality previous found in Host Integration Server 2004 Enterprise edition.

The news about adapters is very significant for our customers. All of the new adapters we`ve purchased from iWay will be included in the box with ALL editions of BizTalk Server, and, require no additional licensing. Also, the SAP adapter will now also be included in the packaging!

While we are discontinuing Host Integration Server Enterprise Edition (but keeping Standard edition), we are rolling the Transaction Integrator function into BizTalk Server 2006. This means that host communication to IBM mainframes, AS/400s and the like will be native BizTalk data sources/destinations. Also, a DB2 adapter is provided in the BizTalk box.

While we are incrementally raising the price for BizTalk Server 2006, it`s hard not to admit that we are adding SIGNIFICANT functionality into the product by not requiring the purchase of additional licensing for complementary components. If you`re a prospective SoCal BizTalk customer, I`m going to work with you to see the definitive value of purchasing BizTalk Server 2004 + SA NOW in order to get the BizTalk Server 2006 product at BizTalk 2004 prices. Great stuff. I`m jazzed about giving our customers the capability to do more robust EAI/B2B/BPM as soon as they install the bits.

The CTP we released today (on Microsoft BetaPlace) also has a portion of the new adapters provided (namely, Peoplesoft). To sign up for the CTP, go the the BizTalk Evaluation Page.

Read the full BizTalk Pricing FAQ on the Microsoft.com site for all the details. Also, the BizTalk Server page at Microsoft.com has undergone a BizTalk 2006 transformation today!