BizTalk Features Retail Partner

Retailers and consumer product companies are the targets of a new
partner add-on for BizTalk Server, Microsoft’s application integration product. Offered
through Microsoft’s Web site, the Cactus Global Data Synchronization (GDS) Accelerator for
BizTalk Server 2004 enables suppliers to electronically distribute and update product item
catalogs for retailers. The accelerator particularly benefits companies trying to meet the
mandates of large U.S. retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Lowe’s. However, by
promoting Cactus’s accelerator rather than building its own, Microsoft is also signaling
an increased reliance on its partners to win business for BizTalk Server in vertical
markets.

Synchronization for Supply Chains, RFID

Like all BizTalk accelerators, the Cactus GDS accelerator delivers a set
of add-on components to support a data interchange standard-specifically, a standard
for GDS. GDS is a process by which suppliers (such as Energizer, a Cactus customer)
electronically distribute standardized product item catalogs and updates to retailers
(such as Wal-Mart). The process is one of many required in order to support supply chain
integration in retail and is a prerequisite for implementing Radio Frequency ID (RFID)
product labeling.