Jan 29, 2012

Biztalk future - it won't going to die soon

I think that in the last two years there was a lot of online BUZZ regarding the Biztalk Server will go out of support.
I believe that this won't happen in the nearest time.
Microsoft can't kill its middleware Integration solution. There are thousands of production Biztalk environments world wide.
Biztalk will stay as a on premise server solution for some time, yes Microsoft roadmap is to move toward the  cloud solution. AppFabric with Service Bus, Integration Services, Cache Service and other services will eventually implement the current Biztalk capabilities, the solution won't be called Biztalk.
Microsoft aims to create a single middleware solution for cloud and On-Premises projects.
Today Microsoft focus is on the cloud. And it will take time , years, to implement Biztalk functionality on the AppFabric cloud solution.
Migration probably won't be smooth but eventually it will work, from what I saw online the migration process won't be able to handle whole applications, only artifacts (Orchestrations, maps, pipelines and ...).
But I am sure that Microsoft will provide the needed support in a reasonable TCO to move from Biztalk Server to the AppFabric next-Generation middleware solution.

Microsoft will continue to the develop and invest in Biztalk Server project till the cloud AppFabric project will have the needed and current Biztalk capabilities.
The Biztalk project will be evolved in a moderate speed and investment.

Biztalk has a great integration features, like:

  • Orchestrations - machine based integration flows, custom XBPEL files. The current .Net developers familiar with the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF). In the last 2010 version you still can't execute the WF on Biztalk runtime engine, but it is part of the product roadmap.
  • PUB/SUB engine - everything in Biztalk is based on the Publish/Subscribe patterns against the MessageBox DB for prof and cons.
    This architecture is a major pitfall for low latency solution. But on the contrary it enables loosely couple integration solutions.
    For low latency you can combine Biztalk map and adapter functianlity with WF in a regular .Net project in VS2010 and above. 
  • Integration by  Windows Azure Connect  with Azure windows services.
  • B2B - EDI, SWIFT
  • BAM
  • BRE
  • ...
A nice recorded presentation from the WPC2011 by Tony Meleg's provides Microsoft long time strategy and commitment for Microsoft's Application Infrastructure future.

In conclusion 

Biztalk will stay in the market for a long time, eventually Biztalk capabilities will be implemented on the Azure AppFabric solution.