At its annual Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver, Redmond, Wash.-based software giant Microsoft announced that the next version of its BizTalk Server will be available in September. Microsoft also disclosed, pricing, licensing and two new SKUs -- Branch Edition and SOA & Business Process Pack.
Highlights include:
The New Branch Edition: Intra-organizational connectivity (hub/spoke) is an important scenario for a number of manufacturing customers concerned with connecting applications that are distributed across multiple geographic locations. Branch Edition includes Microsoft's RFID functionality, enabling customers to manage devices and capture RFID events. Combined with the robust supply-chain functionality in BizTalk Server, Enterprise Edition, it empowers customers to quickly build an end to end supply chain solution that covers RFID, EDI and integrates with backend applications. (Note: Deployment requires at least one installation of BizTalk Server Enterprise Edition).
SOA & Business Process Pack: A single offering that includes key technologies and guidance for creating a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) using the Microsoft platform. Assets included in this six-month promotional SKU are: BizTalk Server 2006 R2, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS), SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio Team System, and OBA guidance. The SOA & Business Process Pack represents the products that customers most frequently purchase together when starting SOA and BPM projects, and will allow new customers and new projects to get started more easily.
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