Following Tony Meleg’s presentation at Microsoft World Partner Conference, there’s a lot of discussion going on about the future of BizTalk Server. The following is a link to some pages with opinions about this issue:
- Microsoft’s middleware long term strategy by Benjamin Guinebertière
- Thread on Linkedin: Someone please explain to me how AppFabric is going to replace BizTalk
- Thread on Linkedin: Microsoft’s middleware long term strategy explained at WPC 2011
- Thread on Linkedin: AppFabric – future of BizTalk
- Post “Is BizTalk Server Going Away At Some Point? Yes. Dead? Nope” by Richard Seroter
This is just a sample of some of the discussion going on. My take?
- I’m sorry Microsoft has almost stopped evolving BizTalk since version 2004, in terms of core engine features, BAM, the rules engine, and low latency support;
- As much as love Azure and cloud technologies, including the new Integration stuff, I still can’t see how it can handle integration with onPrem systems such as SAP R/3 or Oracle, low latency, or large volumes of data.
- BizTalk is still the leading integration middleware world-wide.
To conclude: Cloud integration will probably gain its space and win some scenarios where it makes sense. But BizTalk, or perhaps more generally ESB/EAI scenarios, will not go away. Your car’s engine is not a utility that you can put on the cloud :).
