whats new in BizTalk 2006

Installation and configuration
- Microsoft provides a single file that contains the latest version of all redistributable components required by BizTalk Server during installation.
- Simplified Configuration experience for first-time users using “Basic Configuration” and flexible configuration for advanced users using “Custom configuration”
- Upgrading from BizTalk Server 2004 to BizTalk Server 2006 is an in-place upgrade process. All earlier version will work unchanged in the new version

Coding
- Developers Zoom in and Zoom out the orchestration, allowing to view only the required portion of orchestration as required
- Flat File schema wizard, an very interactive wizard, which boost the productivity of the developers
- New functoids has been added like table looping functoids, mass copy functoids
Call rule shape can be placed only inside in Atomic scope. Now it can be placed without that. at the background the atomic scope is called automatically when you place the call rule shape

Run time improvement
- In BizTalk 2006 recoverable Interchange is one of the new feature introduced in the pipeline, In the batch processing; only messages that fail validation are suspended, when there is a batch processing and the messages can be resumed once the error is corrected. Wherein in BizTalk 2004 the whole batch will get suspended
- In BizTalk Server 2004, message resume is only enabled for the send side but not for the received side. In BizTalk Server 2006, nearly all receive-side messages can now be resumed through the Health and Activity tracking tool.
- In BizTalk Server 2006, functionality is introduced to allow orchestration and send ports to subscribe to failed messages. Failed message routing can be used for notifying users of failed messages or building rich error handling and message repair capabilities. (Failed message Routing)
- In BizTalk Server 2004, message resume is only enabled for the send side but not for the received side. In BizTalk Server 2006, nearly all receive-side messages can now be resumed through the Health and Activity Tracking tool.
- The send port can do In-order message delivery
- Large messages Transformation, Instead of doing it as in-process, the mapping will be done by the new large message transformation engine, which buffers message data to the file system, keeping the memory consumption flat
- Pipelines can be called within Orchestration, (I haven’t tried out. If anyone has came across this let me know)


Administration
- Introducing the Concept of BizTalk application, this is a logical container for all the artifacts for a given solution
- Packaging entire applications into .msi files are easier, just right click on the application and export as .msi file
- More powerful Administration console then earlier version
An administrator can view at a glance the health of currently running BizTalk applications.

Adapters
- BizTalk Server now supports receiving email messages and their attachments using version three of the Post Office Protocol (POP3) from any POP3 compliant mail server using POP3 Adapters
- The Windows SharePoint Services Adapter to provide built-in support for accessing and publishing documents stored in Windows SharePoint Services document libraries
- The MQSeries adapter now its shipped with BizTalk Server 2006, whereas earlier version adapters is available as a web download
- Other adapters SAP, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, ODBC Adapter for Oracle, Siebel, TIBCO, IBM DB2

BAM Improvements
BAM portal
BAM has been enhanced in 2006 to include an out-of-the-box BAM portal that allows an information worker to easily examine and configure BAM information. Using the BAM portal, an information worker can select a particular instance of some business process to monitor and then choose a specific BAM view into the process to get a different perspective on the key performance indicators being monitored-sized image

BAM alerts
Through integration with SQL Server Notification Services, BizTalk Server 2006 allows BAM information to be delivered as notifications through e-mail or another communication channel to the business user, enabling them to make real-time business decisions based on this information.

BAM Web service
BAM in BizTalk Server 2006 builds on the existing Web services available in BizTalk Server 2004 and adds new Web service interfaces to expose the query of aggregate and instance data, creation of alerts, and retrieval of BAM configurations. The enhanced Web services interface can be utilized by custom applications to expose BAM functionalities within their user interface.