Commerce Server Roadmap Updated

Improvements for multichannel commerce and other features are on the roadmap for Commerce Server, Microsoft’s platform for Web commerce sites. In particular, a planned 2009 update could help Commerce Server customers extend their e-commerce to support new types of clients, such as mobile devices and in-store kiosks. However, as with any future Microsoft product, many details are unknown and could change substantially before release.

Recent Update for Windows Server 2008

Commerce Server is a platform for Web retail and other kinds of Web commerce sites. The current version, Commerce Server 2007, includes modules for product catalog management, order processing, user tracking and personalization, targeted marketing, and data analysis (analyzing site traffic, for instance). An extensive sample Web site (the Starter Site) provides a jumping-off point for developers. Commerce Server runs on the ASP.NET Web development platform and SQL Server.

Commerce Server 2007 SP2, the most recent service pack, shipped in June 2008. SP2 improves support for Windows Server 2008: Notably, it will support the just-shipped Hyper-V virtualization feature, which among other things will help consolidate Commerce Server sites onto shared hardware in hosting arrangements. SP2 also supports the Integrated Pipeline mode of Windows Server 2008’s IIS 7 Web server, which enables developers to use ASP.NET modules for low-level tasks (such as custom authentication or URL remapping) that formerly required the more complex Internet Server API (ISAPI). SP2 resolves some compatibility problems with Visual Studio 2008, such as lack of support for the Project Creation wizard to start site creation.