* BizTalk Server 2009 now available – New features

Top New Features

BizTalk Server 2009 introduces enhancements and new featured in four main areas:

Updated Platform Support

• Support for Visual Studio 2008 SP1

• Support for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

• Support for Windows Server 2008

• Virtualization support with Hyper-V

• Support for SQL Server 2008

Developer & Team Productivity

• New Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) experience - with Support for TFS - integrated source control, bug tracking, unit testing, MSBuild automation

• Enhanced Developer Productivity with Visual Studio project system updates & Map Debugging

SOA and Web Services

• ESB Guidance 2.0

• New UDDI v3 Web Services Registry

• New and enhanced LOB adapters (Oracle eBusiness Suite, SQL Server)

• Enhanced host systems integration (WebSphere MQ, CICS, IMS)

• Enhanced BAM support

Business to Business Integration

• New Mobile RFID Platform

• New RFID device management and industry standards support

• Enhanced Support for EDI and AS2 Protocols and Drummond certification

• Updated SWIFT Support and SWIFTReady Financial EAI Gold certification

http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/default.aspx

* What's New in BizTalk Server 2006 R3

The countdown for the release of BizTalk Server 2006 R3 has started. CTP is expected later this year and RTM planned in H1 CY09.

The main objective of the new release is to have a version enabled for Windows 2008, .NET 3.5 and SQL Server 2008.

Following are the new/enhanced features in BizTalk Server 2006 R3. See this link for full details BizTalk Server Platform Updates.

New web service registry capabilities with support for UDDI (Universal Description Discovery and Integration) version 3.0

Enhanced service enablement of applications (through new and enhanced adapters for LOB applications, databases, and legacy/host systems)

Enhanced service enablement of “edge” devices through BizTalk RFID Mobile

Enhanced interoperability and connectivity support for B2B protocols (like SWIFT, EDI, etc)

SOA patterns and best practices guidance to assist customer’s implementations.

Keep checking this blog for lot of content coming up on BizTalk.