Microsoft Changes Pricing For BizTalk Server

Microsoft is changing pricing for its BizTalk Server. Company executives acknowledge that adoption of the application-integration software for business-to-business transactions over the Internet has lagged far behind its use in connecting internal business applications. As a result, Microsoft will offer more for the money to make the product more attractive to small and mid-size companies looking to participate in private trading networks. "This is bringing integration to the masses, and not limiting it to just the massive (enterprise)," says David Wolf, BizTalk product manager.

At the Gartner Application Integration conference in Los Angeles on Monday, the company will unveil standard and partner editions of BizTalk Server 2002, the second version of the XML-based integration software. An enterprise edition was launched in February. The standard edition supports one CPU, five applications, and 10 trading partners for $6,999, while the partner edition supports one CPU, two applications, and two trading partners for $999.

The BizTalk Server 2002 Standard Edition is more in line with customer demand than the standard edition for BizTalk Server 2000, which cost $5,000 for only five trading partners. Microsoft found that customers needed a product that could support more partners, says Forrester Research analyst Chris Dial. "It's going to help adoption," Dial says. "It's just a question of how big that market segment is." With the current slump in software sales, it's hard to predict when demand will improve for tools to build private trading networks. Microsoft claims to have 1,200 BizTalk customers, including Deutsche Bank, Ford Motor, and Merrill Lynch & Co.