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Microsoft today provided a Q&A with Oliver Sharp, general manager of BizTalk Server, that reveals that BizTalk Server 2006 R3 has been renamed to BizTalk Server 2009 and is on track to general availability in 1H09. Besides adding support for Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V, and SQL Server 2008, there are a variety of the expected B2B function improvements which are detailed in the BizTalk roadmap.
Microsoft’s promised September virtualization fest kicked off today as they started a global series of “Get Virtual Now” marketing events, but the big news is that their Hyper-V virtualization server is now a free download and will be shipping within 30 days as will Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 and System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008.
Admittedly, Hyper-V Server 2008 was only a $28 add-on to Windows Server 2008, but the puzzle is why it wasn’t free in the first place. As to why it is free at all, Microsoft is trying to launch their fledgling in the face of VMware’s current hold on the virtualization market and if the Hyper-V features are "good enough," free seals the deal. VMware is not oblivious however and has their own free entry offerings.
Last month Microsoft announced the acquisition of data warehousing appliance vendor DATAllegro, but now there is a fly in the ointment in the form of a patent suit charging that DATAllegro’s key technology was "borrowed" by DATAllegro CEO Stuart Frost from a company called XPrime where he was previously CEO and where it was patented:
The complaint (PDF, 35 pages) was filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego by Cary Jardin, the founder of XPrime, who was issued a patent in February 2007 for a "System and Method for Generating and Processing Results Data in a Distributed System." Jardin had filed for the patent at the time Frost worked at XPrime, according to the suit.
The suit alleges that the "unauthorized use of Jardin’s intellectual property continues to this day."
With the acquisition still pending, Microsoft isn’t named as a defendant in the suit. The Redmond company referred questions to DATAllegro, based in Aliso Viejo, Calif. DATAllegro didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday afternoon.
This isn’t necessarily a deal killer, but you can be sure that the Microsoft lawyers are all over this one inserting insurance clauses in the final acquisition agreement.
It is still early in August, but Microsoft is already ready to fulfill their promise that the tardy SQL Server 2008 would finally be released in August. There are now seven versions of SQL Server including a Web version for hosting companies. So how do you get your hands on SQL Server 2008?
SQL Server 2008, which has been in beta testing for some time, is now available on the Microsoft Developer Network and Technet. An evaluation download will be available on the company’s Web site on Thursday.
The product is available in seven editions, each designed for the needs of different customer segments. More information about the editions is available on the SQL Server 2008 Web site.
One of the editions that is new with the 2008 release is SQL Server 2008 Web. SQL Server 2008 Web is designed for hosting companies, providing the tools necessary to support low-cost, large-scale, highly available Web applications or hosting environments, according to Microsoft.
On a conference call Wednesday, company executives explained how feedback from customers spurred them to release a major upgrade to the database a mere three years after its previous release, SQL Server 2005.
See, it’s not really all that late. For reference the seven editions are:
