BizTalk 2006 Officially Launched!
BizTalk Server 2006 has now been officially launched! So, what does this mean to you? It means a new build is available. It is the Community Technical Preview (CTP) build. I have been working with it almost non-stop for the past week now. Other then a few problems with the installation, it seems to be awesome! It is now available on Beta Place. The Beta 2 should be available in the next few weeks with updated documentation.
The best part of the CTP build is it includes four new BizTalk 2006 Adapters (Oracle DB, Oracle Apps, PeopleSoft, and Siebel). In case you missed the news last week, these adapters will be included in the cost of the Biztalk 2006 licenses!
The launch even in San Francisco was my first experience at this type of event. It lived up to my expectations. The free software (SQL 2005 Standard Edition, Visual Studios Professional, and BizTalk Server 2006 Developer Edition) alone is well worth the effort to attend plus we received over 4 DVD’s full of content, labs, and demos. Plus, they finally gave out a VPC that included BizTalk 2006!
The launch is occurring all over the world and the best part is, it is free. Get all the information and sign up at the official launch site: http://www.microsoft.com/events/2005launchevents/default.mspx
Connected System Design Contest Finalists for BizTalk Server
Along with the product launch in San Francisco, the Connected Systems Design Contest had the awards dinner atop the Westin St. Francis. There were a total of 17 finalists from all over the world covering the 15 categories.
Congratulations to the 5 finalists in the BizTalk related categories:
- Service Broker Enhancements by Jesus Rodriguez
- Transacted Parallel Splitter BizTalk Pattern by Rod da Silva
- Untyped Messages and Dynamic Maps by Stephen Thomas
- Biztalk Scheduled Task Adapter by Greg Forsythe
- Biztalk 2004 Server RSS Adapter by Eric Michaels
Watch for the special insert about the design contest in an upcoming issue of MSDN Magazine.
Special thanks to all the judges who spent there free time judging the more then 400 entries!
Get Connected Through Local User Groups
Local user groups are a great way to learn new skills and share experiences with others.
One of the newest sites to help bring more user groups close to you is http://www.btug.biz This site offers a cookie cutter approach to setting up a local user group in your area.
To help spread the work on local user groups, I have set up a special Users Group Forum. If you have a user group, just let me know and I can set you up with your own area to posts meetings and events.
Here are two inaugural meetings for two new users groups. One on the East Coast and one on the West Coast.
North West Connected Systems User Group Overview
The Northwest Connected Systems User Group is comprised of technically minded participants interested in the design, implementation, deployment, or support of integration solutions based on Microsoft Enterprise Development and Products Servers within the enterprise. The User group meetings will cover the Microsoft product stack with a focus on integration topics. The group will empower members to build connected systems that leverage Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Communication Framework, Visual Studio.Net, SQL Server, Host Integration Server, Commerce Server, and BizTalk Server.
North West Connected Systems Inaugural Meeting
Date: Tuesday November 15th, 2005
Time: 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Place: Microsoft Redmond Campus –Building:35, Room: Kalalach
Cost: Free
This group is run by Brennan O’Reilly and Brandon Gross. Brennan and Brandon are Enterprise Architects / Managing Consultants with Interlink (http://www.ilg.com ). Brennan can be contacted at Brennan.oreilly@ilg.com and Brandon can be reached at Brandon@grosshousehold.com. Do not forget to visit there shared blog at http://www.caffedharma.com/tech/.
New England Biztalk Users Group
The New England BizTalk User Group is an independent, non-commercial organization founded to provide a community presence, facilitate knowledge exchange, increase professional development and offer the most up-to-date information and content to support users of BizTalk Server in the New England area. Get more information at http://www.btug.biz under the New England Chapter.
New England Biztalk Users Group Inaugural Meeting is Wednesday November 30th, 2005
BizTalkGurus.com Upgrades Forum
In a recent update to BizTalkGurus.com Forums, you can now receive forum level notifications of new topics and the unread message feature has been improved. To take advantage of either of these features, you need to be a resisted users. To enable Forum level notification, simply click on a forum and scroll to the very bottom. Look for the “Watch This Forum” link on the left.
Visit the forum today at: http://www.biztalkgurus.com/forums/
Cast Your Vote in our Weekly Polls
Find out how other people are using Biztalk in our totally unscientific user polls.
Past weeks polls:
What version of BizTalk do you work with the most on a daily basis?
What type of messages do you typically process with BizTalk?
Do you use other tools for transformations other than the Biztalk Mapper?
Comments or Suggestions?
I welcome comments, questions, and suggestions. After all, this newsletter is about delivering content you want to hear about! Feel free to contact me through the forum or via e-mail.
Until next time...
Stephen W. Thomas -
BizTalkGurus.com
The Bottom Line:
So far this year I have flow over 122,077 miles on American Airlines. Oh, did I mention that I'm scared to death to fly? |
