Supply Chain

Manufacturing Business Technology (June 2007) The next version of Microsoft BizTalk Server business process management software will have RFID capabilities that Microsoft positions as a more enterprise-ready approach to RFID than that offered by traditional RFID middleware. The R2 version is slated for availability in third quarter 2007, but in early May, Microsoft announced public availability of R2 Beta 2. This beta version includes BizTalk RFID, which Sloan says will use BizTalk's integration capabilities to connect significant RFID events to line-of-business applications.

Redmond Developer News (June 2007) Radio frequency identification technology (RFID) achieves business integration in the beta of Microsoft’s BizTalk Server 2006.A sushi restaurant is probably the last place you'd expect to find an implementation of radio frequency identification technology (RFID). But for Blue C Sushi, RFID is proving to be a valuable tool for tracking orders and calculating customer bills.

NetworkWorld.com (May 1, 2007) Microsoft Tuesday inched closer to releasing its RFID platform when it shipped the first public beta of BizTalk Server 2006 R2. The server, Microsoft’s business process and application integration platform, includes a number of RFID-specific features, such as plug-n-play services for RFID devices, that Microsoft hopes will make it easier for companies to roll out the technology and simpler for vendors to build products on top of it. BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Beta 2 is Microsoft’s first public beta of the software and is its biggest splash ever into the RFID market, according to company officials.

Forbes (May 23, 2007) How do you improve a restaurant? With ambience, a good menu, smart prices--and better RFID technology. James Allard and Steve Rosen run Blue C Sushi in Seattle. It's a kaiten sushi place, which means sushi items on plates move past customers on a conveyor belt. Problem is, how do you know when a piece of fish has been cycling through for too long?

Microsoft PressPass (June 6, 2006) Manufacturing and retail customers to benefit from new extended supply-chain functionality via RFID and EDI capabilities in upcoming BizTalk Server 2006 R2 release. Microsoft Corp. announced deeper investments in business process management by disclosing plans to ship Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 R2. The capabilities in the new release of BizTalk Server will enable customers to extend the reach of their business processes. Scheduled to be available to customers in 2007, BizTalk Server 2006 R2 will add native support for electronic data interchange (EDI) and AS2, as well as a new set of services for developing and managing radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions.

Midsize manufacturers are increasingly under pressure to optimize business processes across their extended supply chains. Read how the Microsoft application platform can help deliver real business advantages quickly while maximizing return on investment.

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 broadens the scope of what this leading manufacturer and distributor of high-performance sealing products for the oil and gas industry can do, and allows them to work with business partners they might not have been able to work with so easily before.

RedTail Solutions, Inc. needed an efficient way to scale its business as it provided Electronic Data Interchange and other hosted electronic trading services to a growing number of suppliers. By consolidating all its offerings onto Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2006 using a service-oriented architecture, RedTail achieves both the scalability and flexibility it needs to offer new, cutting-edge services as the global supply chain market rapidly evolves. It also cuts in half the time it takes to onboard new suppliers, and reduces error processing costs by two-thirds.

A leading European manufacturer of paper products, Renova needed a new, more flexible EDI foundation built on one consolidated application. BizTalk Server 2006 R2 provides the functionality Renova needs to meet all of its requirements and, simultaneously, cut costs, increase agility, and boost productivity.

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 and Covast’s BBotTM provide SourcePRO with a single way to process and manage B2B transactions for all suppliers, large and small. BizTalk and BBotTM help SourcePRO - an integrated solutions provider that helps customers reduce total cost of sourcing, procuring and managing indirect materials and suppliers - reduce costs and meet the mandate of one of their biggest customers.

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