Graham Elliott : BizTalk

Tracking Dead Fish... On the Move

grahame — Fri, 18 May 2007 04:09:29 GMT

Chris Vidotto showed me this case study this morning.

Normally my eyes glaze over when I see a new case study... but this one is really cool. It's for Blue C Sushi which operates a small chain of "sushi train" restaurants in Seattle.

They have used BizTalk 2006 R2 RFID to monitor the timing and contents of plates while capturing data that can detail customer purchases.

What I found really interesting was the RFID business benefits they have identified, especially around business intelligence/insight and the better quality control and customer service that resulted (after all, nobody wants to eat stinky sushi).

Check it out - If you eyes glaze over... drink more coffee.

Microsoft and Business Process Management Whitepaper

grahame — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 08:17:17 GMT

Microsoft and Business Process Management: A Technology Overview.

The lads from K2.net came by the office the other week to take us through their upcoming "BlackPearl" release which is built on top of Windows Workflow Foundation... it has some very exciting features and looks really spicko to boot.

One thing the session did cause though was a heady debate around how it is positioned against BizTalk, SharePoint Workflow, Windows Workflow Foundation etc. etc.

It quickly became obvious that Chris V and I need to flesh out (to include partner offerings etc.) the "Demystifying Workflow" presentation that we put together for the Microsoft Australia SOA and Business Process Conference and have since rolled out to anyone willing to listen :-)

Luckily though, Nick Ward pointed me to a white paper that we released in February (so may be old news to some of you) called Microsoft and Business Process Management: A Technology Overview.

The white paper is written by the one-and-only David Chappell and is up to his usual high standard...

So if you are keen to understand Microsoft's range of offerings that fall under the umbrella of "BPM technology", check it out.

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 hits a big milestone

grahame — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:15:50 GMT

Very exciting happenings in the BizTalk world...

The release of BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Beta 2!!!

Now ... before you get too excited, the RTM release of BizTalk Server 2006 R2 will not be until the 3^rd quarter of 2007.... but this is still cool.

You can check out the latest release at http://connect.microsoft.com/ (you have to register, but its simple enough).

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 will be 5th major release of BizTalk Server. While there are the usual grab bag of improvements to BizTalk, the 2006 R2 release adds three big bang things:

EDI: The native support for comprehensive EDI and AS2 protocols in BizTalk Server 2006 R2 will provide much richer data integration and management capabilities. The Base EDI adapter that comes with BizTalk Server 2006 enables the sending and receiving of messages using X12 and EDIFACT. Customers can leverage this base functionality in order to build custom EDI solutions.
RFID: BizTalk RFID provides rich data, device and event management, as well as open APIs and tools. The capabilities allow customers to cost effectively build vertical solutions and configure intelligent RFID-driven processes.
Platform Alignment: BizTalk Server 2006 R2 features improved alignment with 2007 Microsoft Office system and Windows Vista, including key .NET Framework 3.0 technologies such as WF and WCF. This alignment will help customers access LOB data, as well as system-to-system or supply-chain processes from within their Office System applications (like SharePoint Server, InfoPath and Dynamics).

Mr Vidotto gets all hot and sweaty over the RFID capabilities, personally, the "Platform Alignment" is the one that floats my boat.