Microsoft and Industry Partners Accelerating BizTalk Integration

Despite BizTalk Server’s graphical tools for application integration, building the proper connections to applications and marketplaces is still a laborious task. To speed deployment of BizTalk-based solutions, Microsoft and selected partners are creating software components called “accelerators” that will reduce the custom development required to deploy BizTalk Server B2B e-commerce solutions in health care and other industries. The accelerators also ease integration of internal systems with electronic marketplaces, such as Commerce One, and with industry-specific specifications and processes, such as RosettaNet.

BizTalk Accelerators

BizTalk Server acts as a hub for application to application communication. Applications communicate by sending XML-based business documents, such as invoices or purchase orders, to one another.

BizTalk Server’s two major components are BizTalk Messaging, which translates between source and destination document formats and transfers the documents, and BizTalk Orchestration, which enforces business processes during document exchanges. For example, Orchestration can define and manage a process to ensure that every invoice is acknowledged by the recipient. (For details on BizTalk 2000 Server Orchestration and Messaging, see “BizTalk Server 2000 Orchestrates Business Interaction” on page 3 of the Mar. 2001 Update.)