I mentioned this yesterday after speaking with our Connected Services Division and now here it is.  Microsoft's Connected Services Division group, working with the Patterns and Practices group, have updated and released the ESB/SOA guidance kit.  You can immediately download (see link below) and use this guidance kit to quickly start your Microsoft based ESB/SOA proof-of-concept and/or project.  If you are undertaking an ESB/SOA project using this kit and need additional information please feel free to contact me directly at hectorr@microsoft.com and I'll work with you to get your questions answered.

The August 2007 CTP3 release focuses on the incorporation of Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Request-Response Messaging, and the introduction of the Resolver and Adapter Provider Framework. The latter provides the runtime resolution and transformation support to enable both one-way and request-response pure messaging scenarios. The former (specifically the BizTalk WCF adapter) makes it all possible. Hence, key to this release, is the continued refactoring and integration into BizTalk Server 2006 R2—scheduled for release in September 2007. Additionally, we are releasing several infrastructure-based services to support ongoing development work for the ESB Management Portal, as well as for two key SOA Governance partners, Amberpoint and SOA Software.

The newly released August Community (CTP3) build of the ESB Guidance, along with future iterations, can be found at the ESB Guidance community site.  If you're using the guidance kit make sure to visit this site each month.  I'll try to keep everyone posted on ensuing releases.  Also, you should note that the final release for the guidance kit is planned for October 2007.