News
IT Weekly Roundup, March 31
From the business wires this week: Idera gets Front Runner status, BizTalk and NAP supporters, and recent Microsoft product delays.
Idera, a provider of management, administration, and compliance solutions
for Microsoft SQL Server, announced this week it has been awarded SQL Server
2005
Front Runner status by Microsoft. Front Runner status is given to
companies that have developed a SQL Server 2005 application that conforms to
Microsoft testing standards. New versions of Idera's core portfolio of
products, including SQL Diagnostic Manager, SQLsafe and SQL Compliance Manager,
comply with those requirements.
http://www.idera.com
Covast released Tuesday its Covast EDI Accelerator for Microsoft
BizTalk Server 2006. The collaborative business integration solution provider
says its EDI Accelerator helps enterprises integrate their EDI infrastructures
with internal applications and Internet-based trading partners via conversion
of EDI documents to and from XML. http://www.covast.com
iWay Software announced Monday that its iWay Universal Adapter Suite
will integrate with BizTalk Server 2006. The suite, which includes more than
300 adapters, also supports Microsoft .NET Framework, Microsoft Office, Microsoft
Visual Studio, Microsoft SQL Server, and Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation
(previously code-named "Indigo"). http://www.iwaysoftware.com
Business process management software provider Metastorm announced Monday
its support for BizTalk Server 2006 allowing processes running in Metastorm
BPM software to take advantage of the Microsoft BizTalk 2006 Business Rules
Engine. A process automated in Metastorm BPM will be able to call a rule in
the BizTalk 2006 Business Rules Engine via Web services and act upon the results
of the rule. http://www.metastorm.com
Intelligroup Inc. launched Monday its EDI Jumpstart service,
powered by BizTalk Server 2006, as part of its Business Integration Framework
for B2B integration. The EDI Jumpstart service is a set of packaged services
that help companies establish production-ready B2B relationships with their
business partners using standards such as EDI, AS2 and XML, and it accelerates
the deployment of BizTalk Server 2006. http://www.intelligroup.com
Itemfield announced Monday its support of BizTalk Server 2006. Itemfield
ContentMaster for BizTalk Server 2006 will enable organizations to access
and integrate structured and unstructured data stored in legacy systems and
proprietary data from across the enterprise. http://www.itemfield.com
Alcatel announced Wednesday that its new Access Guardian feature
set and the Alcatel OmniVista 2770 Quarantine Manager will support Microsoft's
Network Access Protection (NAP), a policy enforcement technology built
into Windows Vista and the future version of Windows Server, code-named "Longhorn."
Microsoft's Network Access Protection offers enhanced protection of network
assets from unhealthy computers by enforcing compliance with network health
policies, such as antivirus signatures, patch levels and firewall configurations.
http://www.alcatel.com
ForeScout Technologies, a provider of clientless Network Access Control
(NAC) and intrusion prevention solutions, also announced recently that it has
joined Microsoft's NAP Program. ForeScout's NAC solutions will support
NAP. http://www.forescout.com
In related Microsoft news, the company announced March 23 that it will be reorganizing
its Windows unit, adding Steven Sinofsky, the current head of
Microsoft's Office business software development division. Sinofsky will join
a restructured Platforms and Services division, composed of eight new and existing
groups, and will oversee engineering and development of Windows and Windows Live.
Microsoft's Business Solutions group announced
this week at its Convergence 2006 conference the release of Dynamics CRM
3.0 Professional Edition for hosting services. Microsoft also previewed
Dynamics AX 4.0, due out later this year. The multi-language, multi-currency
enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution features support for SharePoint
Services and deep integration with other Microsoft products, including SQL Server,
BizTalk Server, Exchange and Office.
While BizTalk Server 2006 is set
to ship May 1, a number of Microsoft products will be missing their
respective boats. Windows Vista will be delayed
until after the holiday shopping season to January 2007, due to quality-standard
issues, the company said. To coincide with Vista's launch, Office 2007
will also be pushed
back until then. And Service Pack 1 for Virtual Server 2005 R2 will
arrive
in early 2007, instead of late this year.