Brian Loesgen

There comes a point in every viable product's life cycle when the stage is set for its debut. The design meetings are memories, the documentation's complete, construction is over, the beta is done, the product's been stabilized, and it's time to push it out into the world. That time has come for BizTalk Server 2004. I've been in this space a long time. I vaguely remember the initial references back in 1999 to a new product called BizTalk, and a conversation with a co-worker where I said "This is hot; I'm going to watch this one." I got actively involved in the days of the BizTalk Jumpstart Kit, and have been through the BizTalk 2000 and 2002 releases. In short, I've been on this bandwagon since we started looking for planks to build the bandwagon with. It's been a fun ride, and it looks like we're about to strap a jet engine onto the bandwagon. I've been closely i... (more)

Orchestrating Web Services

By the time you read this, BizTalk Server 2004, the third version of BizTalk, will have been released. As you can see by the articles in this special issue of .NET Developer's Journal, this is a very important product release, and it is poised to have a profound impact on how developers create enterprise applications. At the same time, 2004 is "The Year of Web Services" - again. Unlike the past couple of "Years of Web Services," this time it's for real. Most of the required standards have been released or at least defined, all the infrastructure pieces are falling into place, an... (more)

SOA - Decoupling BizTalk Orchestration Processes With Microsoft .NET

As all architects and developers know, the tenets of service-oriented architecture call for breaking large monolithic processes into more granular, purpose-specific blocks of functionality that solve specific needs, and exposing those as services. This is not really new thinking. Languages have long supported the notion of breaking logic into discrete units. If applied properly, this approach will yield a series of services that can potentially be aggregated in different ways to provide different solutions. In short, this building-the-building-blocks approach is a cornerstone of ... (more)

Tech·Ed 2005: What's New from Microsoft's Business Process and Integration Division?

The Business Process and Integration Division was out in full force at Tech·Ed this year, unveiling several new product releases.  What’s new for BizTalk 2006, Commerce Server 2006, and Host Integration Server 2006? We will take a high level look at what some of these changes are, and you can look for further coverage in future editions of the .NET Developer’s Journal. BizTalk Server 2006The “buzz” around BizTalk Server was significant, and it was prominently featured around the convention center as well as in the conference keynotes. Tech·Ed attendees wer... (more)

Introduction to BizTalk Server 2004 and Web Services

BizTalk Server 2004, the latest and third version of BizTalk, is an exciting tool that all .NET application developers should know about. BizTalk fills two key business needs: enterprise application integration business process automation. The powerful messaging platform allows for easy integration between applications, and also between enterprises. The business process automation engine, based on the new BPEL XML specification, allows for automation of even the most complex business processes. Throw in InfoPath 2003 for a user interface into BizTalk, tight integration with Visual ... (more)