Microsoft tells firms it's good to BizTalk

Common, cross-platform language aims to unite business processes.

Microsoft has launched a bid to corner the e-commerce marketplace, with the launch of BizTalk, a common, cross-platform language for business transactions.

At this month's Commerce Solutions briefing in San Francisco, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates outlined an e-commerce strategy that he claimed would make it easier for companies to conduct transactions, integrate their applications and exchange data.

"You don't have to be a big corporation with a well-known brand, or (have) lots of available dollars to throw at e-commerce solutions. With tools like these, we can accelerate the market and within a year get a million new businesses online," said Gates.

He added that the firm intended to introduce an integrated suite of products and services that would natively support Microsoft BizTalk. It will also be supported in future versions of the Windows operating system and the Office and BackOffice suite of products.

BizTalk will rival the existing electronic data interchange (EDI) technology.

It is a framework for business-to-business e-commerce that enables companies to integrate their systems with those of their suppliers and customers, by using common data formats based on XML (eXtensible Markup Language).

BizTalk has been endorsed by organisations such as MasterCard, PeopleSoft and SAP.

Beth Barling, an e-commerce analyst at Ovum, said the move signalled a desire by Microsoft to get involved in the standards process.

MICROSOFT AIMS TO BE THE BIZ

Microsoft Commerce Server, an upgrade to version 3.0 of Site Server Commerce Edition, will enable users to build e-commerce sites for medium and large-sized businesses.

A new Microsoft BizTalk Server will provide the tools and services required to improve the way that companies share data.