Enterprise Application Integration opportunities

Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity

Hosts:

Moderator: Ken (Microsoft)
Welcome to today's TechNet Chat. Our topic Enterprise Application Integration opportunities for ISVs. Questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.

Moderator: Ken (Microsoft)
I'll now have the hosts introduce themselves.

Host: Michael (Microsoft)
Hi, Im Michael Woods. Im a Technical Product Manager on the BizTalk Server Product Group. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us.

Host: Scott (Microsoft)
Hi, I'm Scott Callan, a Product Manager on Microsoft's e-Business Server Team, responsible for ISV Partner Programs and coordination.

Host: Jinee (Microsoft)
Hi, Im Jinee Kim and Im a business manager with BizTalk Server.

Host: Steve (Microsoft)
Hi, I'm Steven Martin and I'm a Product Manager on BizTalk Server

Host: Michael (Microsoft)
Q: every 8 months or so, my computer displays a "RPCSS Error" and doesn't allow me to get into windows....

A: That isn’t something any of us have expertise with. We can probably answer any BizTalk Server 2002 questions you have though.

Host: Steve (Microsoft)
Q: Is Jupiter a .NET server

A: Jupiter is a code name for the next generation of E-Business Server products. It is built on .Net technology.

Host: Jinee (Microsoft)
Q: how can we get on your beta list for Jupiter?

A: We will also be make the beta bits available off our website http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk

Host: Scott (Microsoft)
Q: What do u mean by EAI opportunity for an ISV? In other words, are u focussing on ISVs, or their customers that use the BizTalk adapters?

A: In this particular chat we are talking about the opportunities that ISVs have to deliver EAI solutions that leverage BizTalk Server - for their customers.

Host: Michael (Microsoft)
Q: we're offering a hosted B2B service for SME's using Biztalk ... other than RosettaNet, what other adapters for large B2B networks do you have?

A: Weve got an accelerator for HIPPA, a Financial Services accelerator that handles Swift translations among other things. We also have UCCNET toolkit.

Host: Scott (Microsoft)
Q: so what opportunities do you see for ISVs?

A: There are opportunities to use the technology in BizTalk Server to provide you with the infrastructure to support your applications integration with other applications and you’re your customers partners. There is also the ability to embed BizTalk Server into your application.

Host: Michael (Microsoft)
Q: Stev : anyways.......what is Enterprise Application Integration opportunities for ISVs ???

A: We have some pretty extensive information on EAI on our website (http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/). The ISV slant is for questions that our partners and potential partner organizations have regarding building solutions for their customers using the Microsoft EAI suite of applications.

Host: Steve (Microsoft)
ISV = Independent Software Vendor.

Host: Michael (Microsoft)
Q: How well does Biztalk support point-to-multi-point communications?

A: Do you mean Pub-Sub? It does Pub-Sub out of the box but it can be difficult to configure. There is a freely downloadable Pub-Sub Toolkit at the BizTalk website that greatly simplifies the procedure.

Host: Michael (Microsoft)
Q: is the pub-sub toolkit from MS or from a 3rd party?

A: The Pub-Sub toolkit is from Microsoft.

Host: Michael (Microsoft)
Q: how about EDI-INT AS1 and AS2 support?

A: We partner with a third party ISV named Covast to provide that functionality in the form of an accelerator for EDI.

Host: Michael (Microsoft)
Q: To decide between buy vs. build, build turns out to be a case if the timeframe is reasonable and customer does not want to budget too much...?

A: If you have good .NET dev experience learning to write an adaptor would take you two or three days if you werent on it full time. You could do it in a day if you really worked at it. The back end logic would likely be more complex than writing the adapter to hold it.

Host: Michael (Microsoft)
Q: If BizTalk APIs were similar to JCA, the J2EE community folks can convert more easily perhaps to BizTalk and .Net, generally!

A: We have a couple of vendor partners that have adapters for J2EE that implement a JCA interface for calling BizTalk. Ive written demos using the Attunity BizTalk Adapter for Java. Its pretty cool.

Host: Scott (Microsoft)
Q: What co-marketing opportunities do you provide for ISVs and B2B exchanges supporting Biztalk?

A: The best way to find out what co-marketing opportunities exist for you is to check out the actual partnership applications for BizTalk Server that are located here: <http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/default.mspx>

Host: Michael (Microsoft)
Q: So, if I had to create a minimalistic adapter for SAP, a JCA like API would make me "port" my J2EE code much more easily...hence the question!

A: Well if what you wanted from SAP was really simple that would be realistic, but as you know the SAP APIs are very complex. Id rather get the SAP adapter from Microsoft or one of our ISV partners if I had a choice.

Host: Scott (Microsoft)
Q: where can we find licensing information for embedding Biztalk in our B2B service?

A: We have a really good program for embedding BizTalk Server (as well as most of our other servers) and I would be happy to provide you with the details of it if you want to send me an e-mail (scallan@microsoft.com). You’ll need to be under NDA with us to receive the info my e-mail is scallan@microsoft.com

Host: Steve (Microsoft)
Q: Where do you see a generic BizTalk based EDI interfacing now in comparison with say Mercator commerce server etc...?

A: Many of our customers initially deploy BizTalk Server 2002 on top of an existing EDI translator like Mercator. The goal for many of them is to begin to migrate their EDI traffic from proprietary VANS to the Internet and long term move their Integration solutions away from EDI translation and into BizTalk Server 2002.

Host: Steve (Microsoft)
Q: Do you see any opportunities in integrating our ePayment platform with Biztalk? In other words, what your take on the maturity of integrated payments in the B2B space? A: We are always interested in partner opportunities and would like to better under

A: We are always interested in partner opportunities and would like to better understand your solution. Can you point us to some additional information?

Moderator: Ken (Microsoft)
Thanks for joining us today and thanks for the questions. It's time for us to go now.

Host: Michael (Microsoft)
Thanks for your time everyone. I hope it was well spent.

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