MICROSOFT launched its new BizTalk Server 2006 Release 2 in Australia last week - the first English-speaking country launch in the world for Microsoft’s newest business process management server.
Among the new features in R2 are native support for Applicability Statement 2 (AS2), as well as new RFID capabilities. AS2 is used to enable EDI between businesses using the Internet. BizTalk RFID encompasses the tools and framework for partners and customers to build solutions (such as asset-tracking, track-and-trace, inventory control) that improve business processes. It now means any device — regardless of manufacturer — can be discovered, configured and managed using Windows-based tools.
Global customers to date include pallet and container solutions company, Chep, which is using BizTalk Server 2006 R2 to take costs out of their supply chain.
Steve Sloan, Senior Product Manager, BizTalk Server, told FEN that by making RFID part of a trusted platform, Microsoft expects to improve manufacturers' confidence in RFID technology.
"The message that we are sending is that this technology [RFID] is ready for adoption. Our new edition works out less than one tenth of the price of this software historically. So we're trying to take down all of the barriers to adoption," Sloan said.
"By making sure that their technology for reading and for pulling data off the readers is integrated with the same system that connects to their line of business systems, whether it's SAP or JD Edwards, there is a natural link between the data at the absolute edge and how it gets back into the enterprise."
Full story to come in November FEN.
www.microsoft.com.au
www.microsoft.com/biztalk/default.mspx
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