• Illustration: E-Business Servers Overview

Application integration, Web site management, and e-commerce products from Microsoft will proceed on parallel tracks, according to recent announcements. Although Microsoft has not provided an updated e-business product roadmap, the company no longer plans to deliver a single suite, code-named Jupiter version 2, that rolls up into a single package all its e-business functions. This news will be welcome to customers and resellers of application integration products such as BizTalk Server, which will likely go forward with little technical discontinuity. However, the news raises questions about the future of the Commerce Server e-commerce site-hosting software.

No Unified Integration, Portal Product

Microsoft's e-business products support the integration of existing applications, business-to-consumer and business-to-business commerce, and management of complex Web sites. Products for these functions include the following:

• BizTalk Server (application integration and business-to-business commerce)
• Host Integration Server (application integration and terminal emulation with mainframe and minicomputers)
• Content Management Server (Web site content management)
• Commerce Server (e-commerce site hosting).

Several e-commerce and application integration products were due to merge into a unified suite, code-named Jupiter version 2, in 2005 or later. Although the suite's capabilities were never detailed publicly, it was intended to incorporate the capabilities of BizTalk Server (BTS), Commerce Server, and Content Management Server (CMS), and to support customization with the Visual Studio integrated development environment.

Microsoft has announced that it will continue the development of those components as discrete products rather than merge them into a single suite. (For a graphical overview of recent and upcoming e-business servers, see the illustration "E-Business Servers Overview".) The company says that customers want application integration products, like BTS, to support their Web sites and storefronts, but they do not want to buy a single product for both integration and Web site management.

The decision follows a change in leadership (announced Feb. 2004) at Microsoft's e-business unit: Vice President Ted Kummert has taken over the unit from General Manager David Kiker.

Integration Products Updated in 2004

Microsoft now says that its current application integration products will continue to be sold and released independently of the rest of its e-business line. The implication is that BTS and Host Integration Server (HIS) will likely go forward without the major technical leaps that Jupiter might have entailed. Both products will have substantial releases in 2004; although the dates of later releases have not been set, the future of the product line seems secure.

BizTalk Server

This server product is Microsoft's message broker for integrating applications. Current releases of BTS include the following two major components:

• A message layer that provides data format translation, protocol translation, and message routing for application-to-application communications
• An "orchestration" layer that executes and coordinates long-running transactions that involve multiple applications

BTS 2004 was released to manufacturing in Feb. 2004 and should be generally available in Apr. 2004. Code-named Voyager and sometimes referred to as Jupiter version 1, this release makes substantial performance and scalability improvements to the core engine, and introduces a new Visual Studio-based developer environment and tools for business users to monitor processes from Office applications.

Host Integration Server

HIS enables organizations to integrate Windows applications with mainframe and Unix applications and databases.

COM and ODBC programming interfaces in HIS allow developers to access mainframe-specific data storage, such as DB2 databases, without requiring any changes or additional software on the mainframe. COM-based middleware running on HIS can transparently access mainframe transaction applications and applications that use IBM's MQSeries message queuing. HIS also supports PC emulation of IBM 3270 and similar mainframe terminals.

HIS 2004, the next release, entered public beta testing in Dec. 2003. This version's new features include mainframe transaction integration with managed code (code running under the .NET Framework); a managed data provider for IBM DB2 (which enables applications to access DB2 data through the ADO.NET data-access API); and support for mainframe-initiated transactions.

Content Management, Portal Merging?

Microsoft has not announced its next release of CMS, its product for managing content on large, complex Web sites. However, the company has recently merged its CMS group into the SharePoint Portal Server (SPS) unit, led by General Manager Jeff Teper. That move is one of several hints that Microsoft might converge Web content management with a portal product and the ASP.NET Web development framework.

Using CMS, content authors can create and publish Web pages without knowing how to use HTML or create the underlying site design. Web site designers and developers create custom CMS templates for Web pages; dynamic content is entered into special areas on the templates, called placeholders. CMS helps manage the process of approving content and integrating it into a site, as well as generating Web pages from the templates and content. It also supports personalization—the delivery of specific content to specific users. CMS reduces the effort required to maintain Web sites, shortens turnaround time, and reduces the chance of errors.

Some overlap occurs between the functions of CMS, SPS, and the next version of ASP.NET, ASP.NET 2.0. For example, both SPS and ASP.NET 2.0 have tools for creating template pages and Web sites, which site users and builders then customize by inserting content. Both SPS and ASP.NET 2.0 include personalization and the user-authentication capabilities required for personalization and security.

CMS, SPS, and ASP.NET 2.0 all use different technologies for portal management and Web content management. However, ASP.NET 2.0 will provide a natural unifying technology for both corporate portals and public Web sites. Microsoft is therefore likely to create a new, unified line of content-management and portal products built on ASP.NET 2.0 or a successor. This unified line appears to be the mission of the new, merged CMS and SPS organization.

Commerce Server Fate Unclear

The new roadmap raises questions about the future of Commerce Server, a product that extends the Internet Information Server (IIS) Web server in Windows with capabilities for designing, building, deploying, and maintaining e-commerce Web sites. Commerce Server's next release was to come in Jupiter version 2; with that release off the table, Commerce Server's next release becomes unclear.

Some of the uncertainty around Commerce Server arises from its overlap with other Microsoft products. Its user tracking and personalization features overlap with the capabilities of CMS and SPS and would overlap any future content management and portal platform built on ASP.NET 2.0. Meanwhile, Commerce Server’s modules for product catalog management, order processing, targeted marketing, and data analysis parallel the functions of a number of Microsoft's Business Solutions products. The Business Solutions unit is developing a new set of enterprise resource planning modules under the code name Project Green, some of which will also likely support order processing and financial analysis.

Nevertheless, Microsoft's portal management, content management, and Project Green strategies are works in progress. Microsoft says that it is still working on its plans for packaging e-commerce functionality. Commerce Server customers and partners should watch for more details in 2004.

Resources

The ASP.NET 2.0 Web development framework is summarized in "ASP.NET Gets Major Improvements" on page 12 of the Feb. 2004 Update.

BizTalk Server 2004 is previewed in "BizTalk Server Engine Reworked" and "'Jupiter' Roadmap Solidifies" on page 16 of the Aug. 2003 Update.

Host Integration Server 2000, the current release, is explained in "Host Integration Server 2000 Released" on page 9 of the Oct. 2000 Update.

Content Management Server 2002 is outlined in "CMS 2002 Pricing, Ship Date" on page 11 of the Nov. 2002 Update and "Content Management Server 2002 Goes .NET" on page 8 of the Sept. 2002 Update.

Microsoft's portal strategy and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 are described in the Sept. 2003 Research Report, "Collaboration and Portal Strategy Built on SharePoint."

Commerce Server 2002 is covered in "Commerce Server 2002 Ships" on page 8 of the May 2002 Update and "Commerce Server 2002 Showcases .NET" on page 3 of the Mar. 2002 Update.

Project Green is described in "New Generation of MBS Products Planned" on page 16 of the Dec. 2003 Update.

Planned releases and retirements of enterprise products as of Jan. 2004 are summarized in the Mar. 2004 "Enterprise Software Roadmap."