User:Supralaunch21v/Attachmate Verastream

Attachmate Verastream Host Integrator encapsulates mainframe data and logic via the application interface to enable participation in service-oriented architectures. Verastream transforms enterprise host applications into SOA assets by exposing business processes as web services, XML, Java, or .NET components. Verastream supports IBM zSeries (S/390), IBM iSeries (AS/400), UNIX, OpenVMS, or HP e3000, Verastream Host Integrator can give your users a new look and feel, without disturbing mainframe-application code or daily business operations. Offered by Microsoft, it provides the following functions: Business Process Automation, Business Process Modeling, Business-to-business Communication, Enterprise Application Integration and Message broker.

In a common scenario, BizTalk enables companies to integrate and manage business processes by exchanging business documents such as purchase orders and invoices between disparate applications, within or across organizational boundaries.

Development for BizTalk Server is done through Visual Studio .NET.

Versions

 * 2000 - Verastream Host Integrator 4.5
 * 2002 - Verastream Host Integrator 5.0
 * 2004 - Verastream Host Integrator 5.5
 * 2006 - Verastream Host Integrator 6.0
 * 2007 - Verastream Host Integrator 6.5
 * 2008 - Verastream Host Integrator 6.6
 * TBD - Verastream Host Integrator 7.0

Features
The following is an incomplete list of some of the technical features in the BizTalk Server:
 * The use of adapters to simplify integration to Line of Business Applications (e.g., Siebel, SAP, IFS Applications, JD Edwards, Oracle), Databases (SQL Server, Oracle, DB2) and other Technologies (Tibco, J2EE, etc)
 * An engine for modelling Business Rules in a pseudo-English format. This is a forward chaining rule engine.
 * Business Activity Monitoring (BAM), which allows a dashboard, graphical view on how the modelled Business Processes are doing.
 * A unified Administration Dashboard for monitoring deployments of solutions, etc on BizTalk servers in your environment.
 * Built-in EDI(Electronic Data Interchange) functionality supporting X12,HIPAA and EDIFact.(BizTalk 2006 R2)
 * Accelerators which offer support for standards like RosettaNet, HL7, SWIFT, etc.
 * Ability to do graphical modelling of business processes in visual studio, graphically mapping (with the assistance of functoids) between different message formats, and building pipelines to decrypt, verify, parse messages as they enter the system via adapters.
 * Users can automate business management processes via Orchestrations.
 * BizTalk integrates with other Microsoft products like Office, InfoPath and SharePoint to allow interaction with a user participating in a workflow process.
 * Extensive support for web services (consuming and exposing)
 * RFID support in the newest version (BizTalk 2006 R2)

Architecture
The BizTalk Server runtime is built on a publish/subscribe architecture, sometimes called "content-based publish/subscribe". Messages are published into the system, and then received by one or more active subscribers.

Adapters
BizTalk uses adapters for communications with different protocols, and specific software products such as SharePoint. Some of the adapters that were included in Server 2006 product included the Base EDI (Covast), File, HTTP, FTP, SMTP, POP3, SOAP, SQL, MSMQT, Web Services Enhancements (WSE) 2.0, and the Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) adapters. Some are available through third parties.