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Microsoft has launched the release candidate of Windows Server AppFabric and a beta release of BizTalk Server 2010.
Microsoft made the announcements during its Application Infrastructure Virtual Launch Event on May 20. Burley Kawasaki, director for developer platform product management at Microsoft, said the final version of Windows Server AppFabric is expected in June and BizTalk Server 2010, which supports Windows Server AppFabric, is scheduled to release to manufacturing in the third quarter of 2010.
“The role of application infrastructure has become a mission-critical function in all types of businesses today, which creates demand for high-performing, connected systems and applications,” Abhay Parasnis, general manager of the Business Platform Division at Microsoft, said in a statement. “With Windows Server AppFabric and BizTalk Server 2010, customers can use their existing skills to improve the scalability, connectivity, and performance of applications running on their current IT assets.”
Kawasaki said “development, deployment and management are simplified” with Windows Server AppFabric and BizTalk Server. Microsoft’s release said:
““Windows Server AppFabric provides improved speed, elastic scale and high availability for Web applications through new, distributed caching capabilities. It also provides tools to simplify the development and management of composite applications built using Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation. Windows Server AppFabric will be available to customers with licenses for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (Standard and Enterprise editions) at no additional cost.With support for the latest Microsoft platform releases, BizTalk Server 2010 works with Windows Server AppFabric to enable developers to more rapidly build composite applications that connect to disparate line-of-business systems through BizTalk Adapters and BizTalk Transformations from within .NET development environments. This release also delivers simplified trading partner management tools, an enhanced BizTalk mapper that simplifies complex transactions, and a unified dashboard for backup and restore functions.Organizations are already achieving early success with Windows Server AppFabric and BizTalk Server 2010. “Our customers are in need of technologies that address their expensive, disparate systems and disconnected applications, which can lead to missed business opportunities to identify trends, service customers and plan for the future,” said Philippe Lacroix, chief technology officer of Expertime, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. “With Windows Server AppFabric, BizTalk Server, and the .NET Framework, we’ve seen customers achieve tangible, immediate improvements, including up to a 70 percent reduction in IT costs and significantly increased connectivity.””“