Covast recently unveiled that its advanced B2B technology recently acquired by Microsoft Corp. will be delivered with the forthcoming release of BizTalk Server 2006 R3 and the Advanced B2B Pack. Covast clients who are not using BizTalk Server 2006 R2 have the option to remain on their Covast maintenance and support agreements until the Advanced B2B Pack is released. At that time, these organizations will have access to Covast's full suite of advanced B2B capabilities by licensing BizTalk Server 2006 R3.

    The advanced B2B capabilities provided in this pack include expanded support of vertical industry standards, advanced B2B metadata management, advanced B2B transports and a B2B operations monitor. Current customers using BizTalk Server 2006 R2 and Covast's B2B solutions will have several migration options to BizTalk Server 2006 R3. These new capabilities in R3 and the Advanced B2B Pack will extend the mainstream B2B capabilities already in BizTalk Server 2006 R2.

    Steven Martin, director of product management for the Connected Systems Division at Microsoft, comments: "Our goal is to make it easier for Microsoft's customers to connect to their customers and trading partners. The acquisition of Covast's technology is an important investment that expands our B2B portfolio by addressing additional complex B2B scenarios."

    B2B integration is no longer an option for today's businesses - it's critical. The demand for more efficient, collaborative operations has made the single integration platform a cornerstone for modern IT strategies. But, some legacy systems, such as EDI solutions, present a challenge for business integration. They're simply too complex and costly to integrate. The Covast suite of B2B integration solutions overcomes these challenges. Covast's solutions are designed to facilitate fast, cost-effective integration of complex B2B applications and systems into your single platform environment. Covast extends the basic B2B integration capabilities of today's platforms to create a complete, fully-integrated B2B solution.

    "Whether you're on R2 or waiting for R3, Microsoft BizTalk Server customers will soon have access to a new set of advanced B2B capabilities. This is very important to those companies that operate in highly-complex B2B environments. Instead of piecing together different B2B software, their needs will be met by a single solution," concluded Daan Scheer, CEO of Covast.

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R3 and the Advanced B2B Pack features:
    - New standards for specific retail segments such as warehousing, grocery, energy, automotive and air freight;
    - B2B metadata management for EDI "super" interchanges, greater compatibility with SQL Server repository/Visual Studio (EDI Explorer) and new reporting capabilities;
    - Advanced B2B transports including new file adapters and transports and VAN connectivity;
    - B2B operations monitor that enables role-based viewing, end-to-end tracking/tracing and automatic archiving.