BizTalk Server 2006 Release 3 (R3) is not going to be the next release of BizTalk Server. Oliver Sharp, general manager of BizTalk Server, revealed that the Redmond company has rebranded the upcoming version of the product as BizTalk Server 2009. Microsoft has already made available a Community Technology Preview of BizTalk Server 2009 to a select pool of testers, and it is sufficiently advanced in the development process in order to confirm that it will deliver the gold bits in the first half of 2009, as initially announced.

 

"We have also updated the name of the next version from BizTalk Server 2006 R3 to BizTalk Server 2009. BizTalk Server 2009 will be a full release of the product. It delivers a full upgrade to enable customers to take advantage of the latest platform wave (delivered through Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2008, .NET Framework 3.5). In particular the platform updates enable greater scalability and reliability, new Hyper-V virtualization support, and many advances in the latest developer tools," Sharp explained.

 

The current CTP build is just the first testing milestone for BizTalk Server 2009. The Redmond giant plans to introduce another, much broader CTP by the end of 2008. According to Sharp, the two development milestones will be used in order to gather feedback and assess the readiness of the product for general availability. Microsoft indicated that the number of BizTalk Server customers has doubled over the past four years, and that it is now as high as 8,200.

 

"BizTalk Server 2009 also delivers some of the top features that have been requested by our customers, including a new UDDI v3-compliant services registry, new and enhanced LOB adapters (Oracle E-Business Suite, SQL Server), enhanced host systems integration (updates to MQ, CICS, IMS, CICS), a new Mobile RFID platform and management tools, enhanced B2B capabilities (updates to EDI, AS2, SWIFT), enhanced developer and team productivity through ALM integration with Team Foundation System and Visual Studio, and a new release of ESB Guidance 2.0 patterns and practices," Sharp added.