Microsoft is readying has two new releases of its BizTalk integration server in the pipeline, the first of which is expected to ship this year.

Microsoft is working on BizTalk Server 2006 (code-named "Pathfinder") and the Longhorn Server wave BizTalk release (known as Beyond BizTalk Server 2006), according to company insiders.

Microsoft shipped its most recent BizTalk release, BizTalk 2004, in April of last year. Until last spring, Microsoft was planning to make future versions of BizTalk part of an integrated E-business server bundle. But based on customer and partner feedback, according to company officials, Microsoft nixed plans to bundle BizTalk, Content Management Server, Commerce Server and Host Integration Server, and opted instead to continue to release them as standalone, but interrelated, products.

The BizTalk team's first order of business this year is to roll out BizTalk Server 2004 Service Pack 1 (SP1). SP1 is currently expected in late January, as a few last-minute glitches scotched a late December release, according to various Microsoft Web log postings.

Next up will be BizTalk Server 2006, a k a Pathfinder, which Microsoft is hoping to ship in 2005, according to Windows Server chief Bob Muglia.

The Pathfinder release will support 64-bit Windows Server releases, and will integrate tightly with SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and Virtual Server 2005. Microsoft is working to provide simplified setup, migration and deployment; a new management console; and richer integration with Windows SharePoint Services (which will be integrated right into Windows Server R2, which is due to ship this year).

The so-called "Beyond BizTalk Server 2006" release will include a new, simplified development environment, as well as support for Longhorn technologies and Microsoft's "Dynamic Systems Initiative" autonomic-computing model. In this release — due in 2007 or beyond — Microsoft also plans to provide a "single programming paradigm" that combines human, application and trading partner workflow.

The "Beyond" version of BizTalk will be honed to take advantage of the Indigo communications/transaction subsystem that will be part of Longhorn. Future versions of BizTalk Server will benefit significantly from the complete web services stack that Indigo provides, according to the Microsoft BizTalk roadmap.

(This is an edited version of an article which appeared in the December 20, 2004, issue of the Microsoft Watch newsletter. Want to see what other Microsoft news nuggets you might have missed? Sign up today for a free two-week trial subscription to Microsoft Watch.)