Understanding BizTalk

E-commerce increasingly means more than business-to-consumer online storefronts. There are myriad opportunities for retailers and suppliers alike to interconnect through business-to-business (or B2B) applications. XML is the key language for the job, and Microsoft's BizTalk--a product family still in its infancy--is shaping up to be a key solution-delivery system. Understanding BizTalk offers an early look at this promising product.

The book is an easy read for anyone moderately familiar with Web technologies. It surveys the challenges of B2B applications nicely with a look at some of the data interconnection approaches in use today. Then it segues smoothly to XML and BizTalk--the meat of the title. The discussion maintains a big picture feel, while still conveying enough details to send you away feeling educated. Plenty of architectural diagrams help illustrate system designs and information flow.

Microsoft development tool jockeys will enjoy the chapter that previews the still unreleased Microsoft Commerce Server 2000--a product that will build on its powerful Site Server Commerce product with a full-fledged implementation of BizTalk. The brief case study of ARAMARK's MyAssistant portal--a sophisticated point of contact for that company's customers and business partners--is a good one. Further case studies would have been helpful, but this still is a good book for any Web developer who wants to get on the B2B train. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered: Distributed applications, B2B e-commerce, XML, BizTalk initiative, XML parsers & tools, BizTalk Server, planning BizTalk systems, Microsoft Commerce Server 2000, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), and ARAMARK case study.