BizTalk 2009 Public Beta and ESB Guidance V2 CTP Available!

After a very valuable and interesting TAP (Technology Adoption Program) process, a public beta of BizTalk Server 2009 is now available at https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=218.  In unison, the CTP of the ESB Guidance Toolkit v2 is also being released, and is available at https://codeplex.com/esb.  Go and grab it!

For those who are not aware of these two technologies, the detail below should provide good context:

BizTalk Server 2009

With the public beta release of BizTalk Server 2009, Microsoft is delivering the first customer preview of the multi-release road map announced in September 2008 and is giving customers the first look of the feature-complete download. BizTalk Server 2009 supports the latest Microsoft application platform technologies, including Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 SP1, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. BizTalk Server 2009 also delivers expanded new connectivity options including new integration with Oracle Corp.’s E-Business Suite, as well as updated platform support for the most recent versions of IBM Corp.’s Customer Information Control System (CICS), Information Management System (IMS), DB2, DB2/400, DB2 Universal Database and WebSphere MQ.

BizTalk Server 2009 also delivers improved scalability and reliability through support for SQL Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V virtualization and enhanced failover clustering. It provides significant new enhancements to both individual and team productivity by enabling new interoperability with Microsoft’s application life-cycle management (ALM) solution Visual Studio Team System and Team Foundation Server. This allows development teams to utilize the integrated source control, bug tracking, team development support, Project Server integration, and support for automating builds via MSBuild for a more seamless development and testing experience.

BizTalk RFID Mobile also extends the power of BizTalk Server RFID to mobile devices running Windows Mobile and Windows CE. In addition, BizTalk RFID Mobile delivers simple device management and offline processing capabilities, all of which help reduce the total cost of ownership.

ESB Guidance 2.0 CTP

The first public CTP release of the Microsoft ESB Guidance 2.0 for Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009 incorporates many new and expanded features include the following:

• New samples:
  • SSO Configuration provider for Enterprise Library 4.0
  • Multiple Web Service Execution Sample
  • Exception Handling Service Sample
• New ESB Web services:
  • Generic Itinerary Services ( no itinerary header required)
• New core features:
  • Alignment with Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009 ( Beta )
  • ESB Configuration tool
  • Centralized itinerary store
  • Itinerary resolver components
  • Itinerary forwarder pipeline component
  • Itinerary selector pipeline component
  • Itinerary designer
  • Centralized configuration uses Enterprise Library 4.0 Configuration Block
  • Centralized caching uses Enterprise Library 4.0 Caching Block
  • Multiple service invocation using both messaging and orchestrations
  • Itinerary BAM tracking
  • Improved ESB Core engine and itinerary execution