After working with countless versions of Microsoft BizTalk server and in the decade of Cloud Computing I’d like to express my concerns in regard of the future of this great platform.
Over the years, the architect who is involved with Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) with this Microsoft product has the impression that he is standing on an abandoned train, that his manufacturer has put him on the sidetrack. The product is still available even in Azure (as shown in my previous article), but if one takes a deeper look at the improvements he / she gets the impression that they always do:
- Compatibility with the current version of Visual Studio ( -1 Version, of course)
- Compatibility with the current version of Microsoft SQL Server
- Adapters for Integration with Azure (Office 365 etc.)
And that’s it basically. Here and there the user interface is polished a little bit (not too much of course) and that’s basically it.
The Azure counterparts like Logic Apps and Azure Functions / Durable functions is growing and its obvious what that means for the fate of BizTalk.
But I really would recommend Microsoft to push this platform a lot more and continue to count of this great On Premise platform. It is powerful, and for an architect who beliefes in the ongoing future of on premise infrastructure (In opinion) has a decent future.
Please do not let the BizTall Product die!
I know, all have to report to Scott Guthrie who might not know or care about this platform, but despite that it would be really worth the effort and the fight!
