Microsoft To Ship $999 BizTalk 2002 Edition

Microsoft

BizTalk 2002 Partner Edition is designed for SMBs and the solution partners that serve them. Priced at $999, the Partner Edition enables SMBs to link to and participate in supply chains with large trading partners, with a limit of two internal connections and two external connections to trading partners, according to Microsoft.

The other new edition, BizTalk 2002 Standard Edition, is a revision of BizTalk 2000 Standard Edition that doubles support for external connections from five to 10. The 2002 version will be priced at $6,999 per CPU, up from the $4,999-per-CPU of the earlier version, Microsoft said.

The two new BizTalk 2002 editions are full-featured versions of BizTalk that include business-process orchestration capabilities, a full line of adapters and Visual Studio.Net integration, Microsoft executives said.

"The impetus for [the new BizTalk editions arose from discussions with our larger customers," said Dave Wascha, lead product manager for BizTalk Server. "If you talk to a GM or Ford, one of the biggest impediments [in creating B2B supply chains is getting smaller suppliers online and getting them trading. The more people that get online, the more they can benefit from the investment they've made in their infrastructure."

Both the Standard and Partner editions of BizTalk 2002 give solution providers a big opportunity, Wascha noted. "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 really giving solution providers a bulldozer for the price of a shovel."

Many large customers, such as Ford Motor, use BizTalk 2002 Enterprise Edition, which offers an unlimited number of connections for a flat price of $25,000 per CPU. Microsoft shipped the BizTalk 2002 Enterprise and Developer editions in February. The Developer Edition is priced at $499 per developer, according to Microsoft.