Real-Time Visibility Through Technology

Biztalk/Sharepoint/... - Unoffical Launch of the BizTalk 2009 Light and Easy WebCast Series

2009-07-09T15:31:00Z

Mick is doing an amazing stuff with pulling together webcasts for BizTalk Server 2009. :) Check out his blog for more details.

Hi folks, been a little quiet on the blogging front lately as myself and other BizTalk Industry exerts have been busy creating a Series of Webcasts focused on BizTalk 2009 features.

I came up with this idea 3 months ago and we’re finally almost through the other side – all the guys gave up their own spare time to share their field expertise and knowledge.

The line is great! comprising of MVPs and field experts whom have got runs on the board.

I hope you enjoy the series, there’s a couple that are still to come, but we can’t hold it back any further.

You can see them all here - http://cloudtv.cloudapp.net/Default.aspx?category=BizTalk (Alan Smith has been very kind to offer hosting) – NOTE: not all the webcasts here are part of the Series, most are :) (I’m working on getting a sub-category)

Mick's Breeze Blogs - Biztalk/Sharepoint/... - Unoffical Launch of the BizTalk 2009 Light and Easy WebCast Series

Vail Resorts Case study launched!!!

2009-06-26T22:57:40Z

This is a great BizTalk RFID case study in hospitality. :)

Resort Streamlines Skier Check-In, Improves Data Collection with RF Technology

Enhancing the guest experience is central to the corporate mission at Vail Resorts, but ski lift pass authentication for season pass holders was often a time-consuming process due to passes being worn under layers of winter clothing. In addition, the company had little visibility into the skiing patterns of its guests. Vail Resorts switched to season passes embedded with radio frequency (RF) tags that can be scanned through a skier’s jacket, streamlining the pass-holder authentication process. The company also placed RF scanners on upper-mountain lifts to capture lift access data that helps sharpen targeted marketing. The solution uses Microsoft® BizTalk® Server RFID and SQL Server® 2005 to handle authentication transactions, SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services for data analysis, and Windows® Communication Foundation for point-to-point data exchange.

Microsoft Case Studies: Vail Resorts

Microsoft Dynamics NAV and RFID

2009-06-25T19:55:57Z

Many of you have asked me about Dynamics Nav and RFID story. Following blog post by Naveen is a great one to get started.

Now it was left for us to how to provide a solution in a timely manner that our partners and customers could benefit from. To begin with we chose Microsoft BizTalk RFID technology that provides a device independent platform for integrating various RFID scanners, printers and solutions. This technology platform coupled with power of Dynamics NAV gave us ample opportunity to build a showcase implementation.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV and RFID - Microsoft Dynamics NAV Team

American Apparel Video from Avery Dennison

2009-06-25T17:33:34Z

American Apparel is one of our customers using BizTalk RFID. Xterprise (www.xterprise.com), Microsoft RFID partner of the year 2008, Microsoft Gold certified partner and leading software vendor in recent ABI research has provided their Retail Clarity software for this deployment. Please take a look at an awesome video created by Avery Dennison.

Sorry your browser does not support iframes, click here to view the full length video

Made to Stick

2009-06-15T05:23:06Z

Author: Chip & Dan Heath

This is an awesome book. I was looking for book on storytelling this is an ideal book on that.

Made to Stick focuses on telling your story/message in a way that it sticks with the audience. Author focuses on very common themes like Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions, Stories to make the stories stick.

Book also has some good punch line which are good. The one I liked and remembered was “Avoid burying the lead. Don’t start with something interesting but irrelevant in hopes of entertaining the audience. Instead, work to make the core message itself more interesting.”

Other Good quotes:

"And that's the great thing about the world of ideas --- any of us, with the right insight and the right message, can make an idea stick."
"Becoming an expert in something means that we become more and more fascinated by nuance and complexity."
"Abstraction is the luxury of the expert. If you've got to teach an idea to a room full of people, and you aren't certain what they know, concreteness is the only safe language."

It is really great book to read. I will try to take authors class if I get a chance it is that good. Enjoy.

Microsoft Releases BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0

2009-06-10T02:21:27Z

We recently launched BizTalk Server 2009 and today we are announcing BizTalk ESB Toolkit. Our customers have been asking us for ESB support in BizTalk Server for a while. Previously we had some guidance for customers on ESB but with today's release customers will get better supported tools for ESB implementation on BizTalk Server 2009.

The BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 is a collection of tools and libraries that extend BizTalk Server 2009 capabilities of supporting a loosely coupled and dynamic messaging architecture. It functions as middleware that provides tools for rapid mediation between services and their consumers. Enabling maximum flexibility at run time, the BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 simplifies loosely coupled composition of service endpoints and management of service interactions.

The BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 provides key building blocks that are required for implementing a comprehensive SOI including:

Endpoint run-time discovery and virtualization. The service consumer does not need to be aware of the service provider location and endpoint details; a new or modified service provider can be added to the ESB, without interruptions to the service consumer.

Loosely coupled service composition. The service provider and service consumer do not need to be aware of service interaction style.

Dynamic message transformation and translation.The mapping definition between distinct message structure and semantics is resolved at run time.

Dynamic routing. Run-time content-based, itinerary-based, or context-based message routing.

Centralized exception management. Exception management framework, services, and infrastructure elements that make it possible to create, repair, resubmit, and compensate fault messages that service consumers or BizTalk components submit.

Quality of service. An asynchronous publish/subscribe engine resolves different levels of service availability and provides high availability, scalability, and message traceability for ESB implementations.

Protocol transformation. Providing the ability for service provider and service consumer to interact via different protocols including WS-* standards for Web Services. For example, a service provider can send an HTTP Web Service request, which will result in sending a message via Message Queuing.

Extensibility. Provides multiple extensibility points to extend functionality for endpoint discovery, message routing, and additional BizTalk Server adapters for run time and design time.

Note: BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 only works with BizTalk Server 2009.

For more information about BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0, see BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 on the Microsoft Web site.

BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0

Please let us know your thoughts and if you have any questions/concerns.

RFID Industry Business Conditions - May 2009 | RFID Monthly

2009-05-20T00:25:53Z

Nice Article.

Our conversations with industry players confirms our most recent survey work, which suggests improving pipelines, but difficulty converting into revenue. Even tried-and-true hardware, such as traditional bar code equipment, is experiencing meaningful delays as companies look to defer capital spending. We see most emphasis on software and services in the near-term to improve existing automated data capture equipment. We are aware of more innovative selling practices that seek to incorporate new solutions into operating budgets instead of capital budgets, which require a high approval threshold. This seems to illustrate why we are seeing leasing options becoming increasingly prevalent.

RFID Industry Business Conditions - May 2009 | RFID Monthly

Videos: TechTalk Recordings from TechED 2009 US

2009-05-18T22:40:08Z

Following are Tech Talk videos we recorded in this year at Tech-ED US

BizTalk Server

BizTalk RFID

BizTalk HIS

Unlock the Information Assets on the Mainframe through BizTalk Host Integration Server

TechEd 2009 is here!!!

2009-05-07T05:22:03Z

I will be speaking at TechED 2009 in LA next week. Let meet if you are going to be attending. :) Following are details of my session…

Title: Microsoft BizTalk Goes Mobile: Collecting Physical World Events from Mobile Devices

Abstract: Every day more high-performing companies connect their internal departments, their support networks, and their demand and supply chains. Reducing the cost and complexity of supply chain management, Microsoft and its large ecosystem of hardware and software partners are working to enable mass adoption of RFID, SOA, and B2B solutions by developing feature-rich, low cost end-to-end RFID solutions. These solutions empower people to gain productivity and business efficiencies. This session showcases real-world deployments and shows how BizTalk RFID can be used at edge of enterprise to capture physical world transactions and integrate these to existing enterprise applications using core EAI, B2B, and EDI capabilities of BizTalk Server.

Pro RFID in BizTalk Server 2009

2009-05-04T05:27:47Z

BizTalk RFID book has finally hit the market. This is a very well written book with all the details you need to know to write good RFID applications on top of BizTalk RFID platform. Actually it is written by 3 folks who really know the product really well. Venkatesh was Architect of BizTalk RFID and is CEO of S3Edge. Mark Simms is Field Program Manager for BizTalk RFID.

I highly recommend the book to anyone who is interested in building RFID applications.

Microsoft Releases BizTalk Server 2009

2009-04-28T04:34:18Z

Today we announced general availability(GA) of BizTalk server 2009. Actually I got an opportunity to announce the availability as part of my keynote at RFID Journal Live event in Orlando. :) We had roughly 2200 attendees with 3 customers(Continental, American Apparel and Vail Resorts) co-presenting with me and Colin. Following are few more details on what’s new in BizTalk Server 2009…

How to Cut Operational Costs and Improve Inventory Management With RFID

2009-04-03T00:50:27Z

Date: Apr. 14, 2009
Time: 2:00 to 3:00 PM EDT
Your company can create near-term customer value and strategic long-term differentiation by connecting your warehouse and factory-floor activities using easy-to-deploy RFID solutions.
Presenters:
• Ingo Heel, Director of Operational Excellence Solutions,
Microsoft Industry Solutions
• Anush Kumar, CTO and VP Business Development, S3Edge, Inc.
Moderator:
• Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal
Companies can obtain significant and immediate cost reductions by linking activities from your warehouse and factory-floor operations to a controlling enterprise application in real time. Recent technology developments allow this linkage to be accomplished with minimal modification to existing enterprise applications, and with little disruption to current process workflows. These technologies include the availability of high-performance fixed RFID interrogators, Windows-based mobile RFID readers (handheld and forklift), and solution providers such as S3Edge, with packaged software applications that connect all of the parts.
With a three-tiered approach incorporating on-demand, on-premise and on-device components, packaged real-time visibility systems from S3Edge connect enterprise applications to physical-world events, thereby providing a quantum leap in inventory and process visibility for your business and customers. The result is a substantial reduction in the number of errors, and in the associated operations and labor costs required to recover from such mistakes. Moreover, putting in place the proper enterprise architecture for real-time applications enables the transformation of internal processes and operations in the long run.
Key Takeaways:
• An understanding of the sources of most common errors—information contained in an enterprise application does not correspond to the physical-world reality.
• The measurable cost of those errors, both quantitative and qualitative.
• A deeper understanding of how S3Edge's real-time visibility systems reduce or eliminate mistakes by walking through detailed customer examples.
Special Webcast Offer for Participants:
S3Edge is a leading provider of real-time visibility systems for warehouse and factory-floor automation applications. The company, together with Microsoft and its mobile RFID device partners, will provide a no-cost evaluation of your warehouse and factory-floor operation to estimate the cost and expected return of deploying a real-time visibility system.

Build REST Services with WCF REST Starter Kit…

2009-04-01T00:10:35Z

My friend Joe Gregorio(www.bitworking.org) writes a column on XML.com on Restful web. Joe has written lot of articles on REST. If you want to know what is REST I will recommend you read his first article on the topic at http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/12/01/restful-web.html.

Adoption of Windows Communication Foundation(WCF) is growing and many of you maybe interested in building REST services through WCF. The WCF REST Starter Kit is here to help you. :)

WCF REST Starter Kit is set of features, Visual Studio templates, samples and guidance that enable users to create REST style services using WCF. Previous release of the KIT focused on building server-side REST services, the new release adds features to make client-side REST development easier. Chief among the new functionality included in Preview 2 is a new class that provides a staged pipeline model for requesting resources over the web. Using this new HTTP client class allows the developer to plug into the various stages of communication to handle custom authentication, caching, and fault handling outside of the client’s application logic.

You can get more information at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/cc950529.aspx.

BizTalk Server: Spotlight on Cost

2009-03-25T22:23:37Z

You can save tons of money by moving to BizTalk Server(remember Gieco Ad). :) Following is a deck that highlights how customers can save by using BizTalk Server.

Cutting Cost with BizTalk Server

View more presentations from shasbe.

Saiseikai Kumamoto Hospital: Japanese Regional Hospital Boosts Efficiency with Enhanced Data Integration

2009-03-23T03:50:17Z

BizTalk supports HL7 as standard feature. Saiseikai Kumamoto Hospital was able to use this feature to get great benefits. :)

Profile:

Saiseikai Kumamoto Hospital is a major healthcare provider in southern Japan. To efficiently provide high-quality services while cooperating with other regional healthcare providers, the hospital uses IT to manage data and optimize operations. When it was time to upgrade to a fully integrated IT infrastructure, Saiseikai Kumamoto Hospital chose to implement the Microsoft® Connected Health Framework, driven by Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2006 R2. With the new infrastructure, the hospital’s IT staff are able to better integrate clinical and administrative data from across the organization, while keeping acquisition and maintenance costs reasonable. As it moves into 2009, the hospital is using its new IT environment to strengthen business intelligence, encourage detailed information sharing, and adapt to industry standards.

Benefits:

Data integration across multiple systems
Reduced IT costs
Fewer data errors
Foundation for future growth

Quote:

“The system based on BizTalk Server has the highest cost effectiveness of any system we considered. In fact, there are cases where the estimated implementation costs have been reduced by 20 percent … Adapting to HL7 standards is the right strategy for us, (and) with BizTalk Server, we can perform the data integration easily.” – Ryonosuke Matsushita, Manager of Healthcare Information Systems Office, Saiseikai Kumamoto Hospital

Microsoft Case Studies: Social Welfare Organization Imperial Gift Foundation Inc., Saiseikai Kumamoto Hospital