Microsoft's New BizTalk Editions Speak To SMBs
BizTalk 2002 Partner Edition, priced at $999, links SMBs to supply chains of large trading partners with a limit of two internal and two external connections. The other new edition, BizTalk 2002 Standard Edition, a revision of BizTalk 2000 Standard Edition, doubles support for external connections to 10. The 2002 version will be priced at $6,999 per processor, an increase from the $4,999-per-CPU price tag of the earlier version.
The two new BizTalk 2002 editions are full-featured versions of BizTalk and include business-process orchestration capabilities, a full line of adapters and Visual Studio.Net integration. The SMB versions differ from the Enterprise edition only in the number of trading relationships supported. The BizTalk 2002 Enterprise Edition, which shipped in February, offers an unlimited number of connections for a flat price of $25,000 per CPU.
Solution providers serving the enterprise and SMB markets believe the broadening of the product line and lower price point will encourage enterprise customers to enlist their smaller partners in B2B transactions and enables all SMB companies to establish trading relationships.
"It's a great move for Microsoft to lower the price point," said Tom Fornoff, vice president of Houston-based Sapient, which has completed BizTalk implementations for customers including the New York Times, Union Gas and WholeHealth. "We're getting good momentum for BizTalk in the enterprise application integration space."
Capco Solutions, a New York-based global solution provider focused on the financial services arena, is using BizTalk as the key centerpiece of its STP-Bridge solution. The solution allows internal systems and external services to communicate with each other and seamlessly links financial information without the barriers of legacy, proprietary or paper-based systems, Capco said.
"BizTalk 2002's new pricing structure is great news as it removes the price hurdle from companies considering implementing B2B solutions such as Capco's STP-Bridge," said Roger Preece, a London-based partner at Capco. "All clients can now get the exceptional integration and automation capabilities of BizTalk-based solutions, making it the preferred B2B platform. The new editions provide the right functionality at the right price."
Both new editions provide a big opportunity for solution providers and ISVs, said Dave Wascha, lead product manager for BizTalk Server.
"This will be a lot more appealing to solution providers that are going after smaller contracts, and it's an interesting opportunity for ISVs to OEM [BizTalk as part of their application," he said. "We're giving solution providers a bulldozer for the price of a shovel."
Teamplate, Calgary, Alberta, has embedded the BizTalk engine in a solution that automates business processes that form the core of a company's infrastructure, said Kevin Hein, vice president of business development for Teamplate.
"BizTalk Server is a critical piece of the unified puzzle," Hein said. "BizTalk Server provides the EAI components to allow applications to share and transact data, but also allows organizations to extend beyond their corporate walls."