All posts by : BizTalk Server Team Blog

1 of 37 | Announcing the OBA Reference Application Pack for Loan Origination Systems (OR-LOS) - The Architecture Strategy Team has just released an Office Business Applications Reference Application Pack for Loan Origination Systems (OR-LOS) that leverages SharePoint, BizTalk Orchestrations, BizTalk Business Rules Engine, WF Workflows, and Office Clients to automate a Loan Origination process spanning multiple human and system participants. Mike Walker has posted all the details including whitepapers, an introductory video, and the sample bits (including a new MISMO accelerator) on his blog. Attached is a pic from one of the whitepapers that shows the high level view of the process.  Also, Mike and the Financial Services team have some more great content on building OBAs on top ......

2 of 37 | BizTalk and the Connected Systems Division are hiring! - Do you have a passion for BizTalk Server and the .NET Framework? Want to build the next generations of Microsoft's process and service platforms? Well, we're hiring! Here's what our HR dept has to say: The Connected Systems Division and the BizTalk team are looking for great people to help build the next generation end-to-end application platrform.  We have several open positions and many exciting job opportunities. If you or someone you know is interested in growing his/her career in Microsoft, please send email to our recruiter, Kerry Van Voris - kerryv@microsoft.com....

3 of 37 | TechEd 2007 Connected Systems Track - Call for Content -   Although Tech·Ed doesn’t happen until June, there is an extensive timeline that requires us to have sessions submitted in January in order to drive demand generation for the event.   Tech·Ed is Microsoft’s annual technical conference that brings together IT Professionals & Developers providing them with tools, information & resources to build, deploy, secure, mobilize, & manage solutions across currently shipping and soon to release products.   This five day event will take place June 4-8, 2007 Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center(OCCC) followed by 15+ international TechEd events that are expected to reach an estimated 25,000 customers and......

4 of 37 | Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) for Partners - The term Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) is widely used in the context of implementing the messaging capabilities of a service oriented infrastructure. An ESB is one of many building blocks that make up a comprehensive service oriented infrastructure.  Microsoft provides a comprehensive ESB offering through its large network of partners.  You can find a list of the partners in the early access program on the Microsoft SOA/ESB Web site:  http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/solutions/soa/esb.mspx Regards, Marjan  ...

5 of 37 | MSDN December theme is live! - MSDN’s December theme for BizTalk is focused on highlighting Windows Workflow Foundation and Windows Communication Foundation integration with BizTalk.    You can find great articles such as Reference Application Pack for Retail which showcases integration using service orientation with BizTalk Server 2006, Windows Communication Foundation, and Microsoft Business Scorecard Manager.     Jesus Rodriguez (BizTalk MVP) has been blogging on this theme as well.  Couple of great posts include: BizTalk R2 and WCF: http://weblogs.asp.net/gsusx/archive/2006/11/21/invoking-tcp-hosted-wcf-services-using-biztalk-server-r2.aspx BizTalk WSE 3.0 adapter and WCF: http:......

6 of 37 | Launch of New BizTalk B2B/EDI Blog - We are happy to announce that BizTalk Product team is launching the B2B/EDI Blog to communicate feature/functionality relating to EDI, AS2 and HIPAA in BizTalk Server 20006 R2.    Readers are welcome to add comments and include suggestions on topics they would like coverage on. We will make an all out effort to keep the Blog topical.   Happy reading! Marjan Kalantar...

7 of 37 | InfoWorld Product Review of BizTalk Server 2006 - InfoWorld has posted their product review of BizTalk Server 2006 and awarded the product with the highest rating.   This article is called BizTalk 2006 deftly connects enterprise apps.  InfoWorld concludes their review with: "BizTalk Server 2006 is a huge product, and I have only hit the high points of describing its capabilities.  It appears to be much improved from BizTalk 2004. The updated product has more capability, better tools, better scalability, better security, better value, and cleaner deployment." Some other notable quotes: o       BizTalk 2006 offers amazing scalability, which will make enterprise IT departments......

8 of 37 | BizTalk MVP Dinner at the SOA & Business Process Conference - On Thursday evening Oct 5th, BizTalk Product Team welcomed BizTalk MVPs to a special dinner.  This event was hosted at one of the premier dining locations in Bellevue, the Daniel's Broiler.     Our GM, Oliver Sharp greeted our MVPs thanking them for their efforts and leadership in the community.  This was a great start to a wonderful evening of MVPs and Product Group decision makers interaction and festivities.   Discussions ranged from in-depth technical debates to Sedona's energy Vortexes and hotels in Bali.  Many myths were demystified (yes Lee Graber is not Chinese).  Listening to BizTalk product group influentials such as Steve Swar......

9 of 37 | New BizTalk Server 2006 Publications - Here they come!  2 new BizTalk Server 2006 books are published.      You can already order BizTalk 2006 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach and pre-order Pro BizTalk 2006 (Pro).  Happy reading!   Regards Marjan...

10 of 37 | Opening Party - The SOA & Business Process Conference welcome reception sponsored by Microsoft Office was a lot of fun (those Office folks know how to throw a party! (Thanks Christian)). We had about 200 people in a large roped off section of Parlor Billiards. It’s a new establishment at Lincoln Square. It’s pretty nice. I’d certainly choose to hold another event there in the future. So the venue was nice but the best part was the people of course. I spoke with a ton of old friends and new. Stephen Thomas stopped by to talk about the gig he just finished up at Pacific Life for Brad Sherrell (Edmund gave me the real scoop later). I hung out with Rod Da Silva from the International BizTalk User Group (a......

11 of 37 | Conference Eve - We’re on the eve of the SOA & Business Process conference, hosted by the BizTalk Server team. What a long strange trip it’s been to get here. When we were just doing the BizTalk conference (as in years past) it was pretty easy to make decisions based on the preference of the BizTalk team itself. This year we’ve expanded the conference to address the larger cross company (actually cross industry) concerns of Service Oriented Architecture and Business Process Management. For an event of this magnitude to be valuable, input from many different product groups and other groups both inside of Microsoft and out had to be taken into account. Over the next four days only time will tell but I thi......

12 of 37 | New BizTalk Server 2006 Troubleshooters Guide - BizTalk Server 2006 Troubleshooting Guide has been published!  This document provides troubleshooting techniques through BizTalk Admin console, HAT, Event Log, network monitoring as well as specific tactics for developers to debug adapters, web services, orchestrations, pipelines and much more.  Definitely a must read! Regards, Marjan...

13 of 37 | New BizTalk Server 2006 Troubleshooters Guide - BizTalk Server 2006 Troubleshooting Guide has been published!  This document provides troubleshooting techniques through BizTalk Admin console, HAT, Event Log, network monitoring as well as specific tactics for developers to debug adapters, web services, orchestrations, pipelines and much more. Enjoy!...

14 of 37 | Performance Month for BizTalk! - As you might know, on TechNet BizTalk’s theme for September is performance.    There are many great whitepapers published including Managing a successful performance lab with BizTalk Server 2006 and Get help deploying BizTalk Server with the Best Practices Analyzer (BPA).    Another great publication is BizTalk Server 2006 Comparative Adapter Study.  This document describes the results of a comparative adapter study—a set of tests that compared each adapter that ships with Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 against its BizTalk Server 2004 SP1 counterpart under identical conditions.   Enjoy!...

15 of 37 | Performance Month for BizTalk! - As you might know, on TechNet BizTalk’s theme for September is performance.    There are many great whitepapers published including Managing a successful performance lab with BizTalk Server 2006 and Get help deploying BizTalk Server with the Best Practices Analyzer (BPA).    Another great publication is BizTalk Server 2006 Comparative Adapter Study.  This document describes the results of a comparative adapter study—a set of tests that compared each adapter that ships with Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 against its BizTalk Server 2004 SP1 counterpart under identical conditions.   Enjoy! Marjan...

16 of 37 | Host Integration Server 2006 July CTP is available now! - We are happy to announce that Host Integration Server 2006 July CTP (Community Technology Preview) is now available.  The July CTP has two different versions available:   ·         Microsoft Host Integration Server 2006 ·         Network Integration; SNA APIs, SNA Clients, Session Integrator, Enterprise SSO, Data Providers for DB2 and Host Files ·         Microsoft BizTalk Adapters for Host Systems ·         HIS 2006 features ·         Transaction Integrator ·   ......

17 of 37 | Host Integration Server 2006 July CTP is available now! - We are happy to announce that Host Integration Server 2006 July CTP (Community Technology Preview) is now available.  The July CTP has two different versions available:   ·         Microsoft Host Integration Server 2006 ·         Network Integration; SNA APIs, SNA Clients, Session Integrator, Enterprise SSO, Data Providers for DB2 and Host Files ·         Microsoft BizTalk Adapters for Host Systems ·         HIS 2006 features ·         Transaction Integrator ·   ......

18 of 37 | BizTalk Server 2006 R2 TAP in need of adapter customers! - Do you use any of the BizTalk Server 2006 LOB adapters?  If not, do you plan to use any of them soon?  The R2 TAP (Technology Adoption Program) requests your participation!  We are looking for customers that currently use or plan to implement one or more of the following adapters: SAP Siebel eBusiness Applications PeopleSoft Enterprise J.D. Edwards OneWorld XE J.D. Edwards EnterpriseOne Oracle DB TIBCO Rendezvous TIBCO Enterprise Message Service If you or your customer is interested participating as a supported early adaptor of BizTalk Server 2006 R2 and one of more of these adapters, please email btsr2tap@microsoft.com. Thanks, Joe...

19 of 37 | WCF Adapter to ship with R2 - early adopters needed! - As you may or may not have heard, a WCF adapter will be included in BizTalk Server 2006 R2!  It won't actually be a single adapter, but instead there will be multiple adapters with each one exposing one of the bindings that are included in WCF.  Each adapter will also include a custom UI for configuring the most commonly used features of that particular binding.  Do you have a custom binding?  No Worries!  There will also be a "Custom Binding" adapter that essentially opens the floodgates of WCF extensibility. Here are some of the supported use cases for the WCF adapters: Exposing BizTalk orchestrations as a WCF web service Exposing BizTalk Content Based Routi......

20 of 37 | BzTalk Server partner and MVP Scott Colestock chats with Mike Woods - I recently had the chance to chat with Scott Colestock. Scott is the Chief Architect at Trace Ventures, LLC based in the Twin Cities, MN. He’s also a BizTalk Server MVP. Here’s the transcript from the chat.   Mike Woods says:So Scott I moved to the BizTalk Server team in July of 2002 after working in the developer division on the .NET Framework 1.0 project. I seem to remember you being part of the BizTalk community back then. What can you tell me about your experience over the years?   Scott Colestock says:Sure - I had a few experiences with BT2000/2002 in the past, but I've been working with the current incarnation of BizTalk since the summer of 2003, when BizTalk 2004......

21 of 37 | Microsoft SOA & Business Process Conference Request for Session Proposals - Call For SessionsMicrosoft’s SOA & Business Process Conference is the event for our customers and partners to learn about new and updated information on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Business Process Management (BPM), and Microsoft’s own Connected Systems infrastructure. Over 4 days, attendees will learn about the strategies and technologies that Microsoft is delivering over the next year, such as BizTalk Server, .NET Framework 3.0, and Office 2007. Three technical tracks will provide depth and detail into best practices for building BPM solutions, guidance for advancing your SOA, and using the latest development tools and technologies for connecting people, processes and in......

22 of 37 | Microsoft SOA? I can’t find that on the price list!?! - Astute browsers of the blog have noticed that we’ve changed the name of the October conference. It is now known as the Microsoft SOA and Business Process Conference. Why’d we do that? Well that’s an interesting story. It seems some people think that Microsoft doesn’t do SOA. Well not people per se; some press, analysts and BDM’s (marketing speak for business decision maker, or your bosses, bosses, boss) only believe in talk. Walking the walk isn’t true until you yell your message at the top of your voice.   As the loyal BizTalker’s reading the blog know the Microsoft technology stack is service oriented from top to bottom. From Windows Vista (.NET Fx 3.0) through 2007 Office System ......

23 of 37 | Great New BizTalk Documentation - Wow, our User Experience team continues to amaze! They have just released an update to the BizTalk Server 2006 documentation that contains tons of new content. I'd list it all here, but there's just too much so check out the attached doc for the full run down. Also, if you don't already, you should monitor Luke's blog to stay on top of the new samples, tutorials, and doc refreshes they keep pumping out. -Kris...

24 of 37 | Of mice and product managers - Guess it’s time for my monthly blog post. I could have sworn that my New Years resolution called for a post a week. Well best laid plans of mice and product managers and all that…   Tech Ed US has come and gone. I’ve heard some unofficial feedback and even got a late night cell phone call from some of the guys doing extra-curricular, after hours, ahhhh…. work. I didn’t attend the show this year (which I really regretted – I’ll certainly be back next year) so I’m not going to post any details myself but Kris and Steve were there. I expect some scoop from them soon (Right Kris? Steve? Bueller?).   We’ve got a lot more details on the October BPM & I conference though: &nb......

25 of 37 | What's next for BizTalk Server? - Well it’s been 2 months since I’ve posted to the blog. One would think that I’d lost interest. Nothing could be further from the truth! Lot’s of interesting stuff going on around here that you folks should know about.   Once we got BizTalk Server 2006 out the door I went and had my wisdom teeth yanked out of my head. What a pain in the … well, mouth actually, that was.   After that the powers that be on the business group went and gave me a small team to manage. I now run the BizTalk Server Technical Product Management team. Interestingly executing well on your own projects isn’t really much at all like enabling others to execute well on theirs. Preparation and relationship bu......

26 of 37 | WSE 3.0 Adapter Webcast Tomorrow - Our good friends at Two Connect have built a WSE 3.0 adapter and are giving a webcast on its capabilities tomorrow. Check out the details here. -Kris...

27 of 37 | BizTalk Adapter for Windows SharePoint Services videos - Adrian Hamza has posted 4 great demo videos covering the BizTalk Adapter for Windows SharePoint Services. These videos cover everything from setup & config, content based routing, InfoPath & Office Integration, and using SharePoint properties inside Orchestrations. -Kris...

28 of 37 | New BizTalk Migration Case Study - Our MSIT group has just released a whitepaper on moving from BizTalk 2002 & 2004 to BizTalk 2006. It goes into quite a bit more technical detail than our typical case study particularly in regards to their consolidation onto 64bit hardware. -Kris...

29 of 37 | BizTalk Support for Web Services FAQ - Our web services dev and support teams have put together a FAQ that lays out our current and future support for various Web Services technologies including SOAP, WSE 2, WSE 3, and WCF (indigo). Let us know if there are additional questions you think should be added.   -Kris...

30 of 37 | Deep Discount on Deep Dive BizTalk Training - QuickLearn is offering a 50% discount on their BizTalk Server 2006 Deep Dive class running the week of April 17th in Redmond.In their words: BizTalk Server 2006 RTM “Deep Dive” Training Offer (50% discount) QuickLearn is offering a “RTM release” discount of 50% off for Deep Dive training the week of April 17-21. Training will be held on the Microsoft Campus in Redmond Washington. This 5-day course provides a total immersion into intermediate to advanced BizTalk messaging, systems integration, and orchestration development. The BizTalk Deep Dive training course is designed to provide experienced developers with advanced skills for building complex BizTalk integration solutions. Class......

31 of 37 | Woo who!!! It’s done! - BizTalk Server 2006 released to manufacturing today. My heart-felt congratulations go out to the developers, testers and program managers who have marched through the marathon of the monumental task that is shipping major software.   This is by far the strongest version of BizTalk Server that Microsoft has shipped to date. It is certainly the most customer focused version ever. Great attention has been placed on simplifying installation, upgrade, application deployment, management, process visibility and even licensing. The documentation is incredible. There is not 1, or even 2, but there are 3 complete real-world, installable, BizTalk reference applications in the SDK and documente......

32 of 37 | 8 New BizTalk Server Webcasts Next Week - Check out the schedule for BizTalk MSDN webcasts next week! 8 in all covering everything from the great new managment tools, end-to-end scenarios, and line of business adapters. There's tons of new information being presented here valuable to both newbies and veterans. Here's the full list: Mon, 27 Mar 2006Discover What’s New in Biztalk Server 2006: New Management Capabilities (Level 200) Tue, 28 Mar 2006End-to-End Scenarios: Creating Service-Oriented Solutions with BizTalk Server 2006 (Level 300) Tue, 28 Mar 2006End-to-End Scenarios: Creating Business-to-Business Solutions with BizTalk Server 2006 (Level 300) Wed, 29 Mar 2006BizTalk Adapters for DB2 and Host Files (Level 300) Wed, 29 ......

33 of 37 | BizTalk Beginner Training Roadmap - I often get request for pointers to training materials for people who are new to BizTalk and figure it's high time we provided a straight forward learning path. I'm going to maintain this post to provide a recommended training roadmap for beginners. Let me know if you think there is other great content that should be added. -Kris Self Paced TrainingUnderstanding BizTalk Server 2006 Whitepaper [1 hour]This white paper reviews the Microsoft integration server, BizTalk Server 2006. Read this white paper for an overview of BizTalk Server 2006 features, how you can use BizTalk to improve application integration, and ultimately how BizTalk can optimize both internal and business-to-business pro......

34 of 37 | BizTalk RTM - coming soon - Thanks to Mike for kicking off the BizTalk Server Team Blog! Tune in March 27th for the latest update on the RTM of BizTalk Server 2006.  More than 10,000 people have signed up as beta participants.  Check back in with us to get the details on when you can get the RTM version. Until then you can register and download the beta version of BizTalk Server 2006 by visiting http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/evaluation/trial/default.mspx. See you on the 27th. Steve...

35 of 37 | Blog on! - I’m here to kick off the new BizTalk Server Team Blog. Before I get into what we on the team are going to do I want to take a moment to recognize and thank he who came before us. Of course I’m speaking of Scott Woodgate. His Business Process, Integration & Workflow Outbursts blog was the precursor to ours and really showed all of us how powerful honest and engaging conversation from the product group could be. The community rallied around Scott’s blog and adopted him as the symbolic community leader.   As you likely know by now Scott left the BizTalk Server team in January to pursue another opportunity at Microsoft. I am happy for him. He did a great job of sheepherding the prod......

36 of 37 | Jobs, jobs, jobs - Now that BizTalk Server 2006 is everything but wrapped up and out the door we’re putting a large amount of effort into thinking about the near and long term future direction of not only BizTalk Server but also about the foundational technologies such as Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Communications Foundation, InfoCard and the Active Directory which future versions will heavily leverage. The group at Microsoft which owns all of these technologies as well as BizTalk Server is called the Connected Systems Division. One of the first things that become apparent in our planning exercises is that we need many more, smart, qualified people to reach our goals and we need them ASAP. If you’re ......

37 of 37 | Welcome - Hey everyone. Kris here. I wanted to follow up Mike's great kickoff with an introduction as well. First, I'd also like to acknowledge the years of devotion and tireless commitment Scott Woodgate gave to fostering and growing the BizTalk Server community. I don't think I fully appreciated Scott's role in shaping the way we understand BizTalk and it's constituent technologies until I joined Microsoft and the BizTalk team last August. A couple days after I started, Scott pointed to a dusty computer in the corner of his office and said "You know what that is? That's BizTalk.org" I scratched my head for a second and then was suddenly struck by memories of a modest green and white website wi......