A new BizTalk Server release moves Microsoft closer to establishing the .NET Framework and Web services as dominant standards for Web-based application and business interoperability. BizTalk Server 2004 runs on the .NET Framework’s Common Language Runtime (CLR), integrates Visual Studio .NET, and offers native Web services support. Customers will also benefit: BizTalk 2004 promises more reliable Web services implementations, addresses performance problems in earlier versions, and introduces a new engine for adding and changing business logic. However, these benefits do not come without a cost: BizTalk 2002 applications will need to be migrated or rewritten to work with BizTalk 2004.

Why BizTalk Matters

BizTalk’s primary objective has not changed from previous versions: it helps systems with incompatible data formats and communication protocols to exchange information. The product is generally used in one of two scenarios:

• automation of business-to-business (B2B) processes, such as handling

A new BizTalk Server release moves Microsoft closer to establishing Web services as the dominant industry standard for Web-based application and business interoperability, and the .NET development platform as the preferred tool for creating Web services. BizTalk Server 2004 runs on the .NET Framework’s Common Language Runtime (CLR), integrates VS.NET, and offers native Web services support. Customers will also benefit from the product improvements: BizTalk 2004 promises more reliable Web services implementations, addresses performance problems in earlier versions, and introduces a new engine for adding and changing business logic. However, these benefits do not come without a cost: BizTalk 2002 applications will need to be migrated or rewritten to work with BizTalk 2004.

Overhaul Improves Performance and Scalability

Functionally, the two main components in BizTalk’s core engine, messaging and orchestration, are largely unchanged in BizTalk 2004. (Earlier BizTalk versions referred to the two components as the messaging and orchestration engines; the new release consolidates these components into a single engine that Microsoft calls the BizTalk 2004 engine.) Technically, however, BizTalk 2004 is a major overhaul: a reworked architecture leverages SQL Server and the .NET Framework to address deficiencies in earlier releases that hurt product performance and thus adoption.