subject: What If Microsoft Expanded BizTalk Server Into A Online Collaboration Service? (Part 3) [print this page] What If Microsoft Expanded BizTalk Server Into A Online Collaboration Service? (Part 3)
Furthermore I will detail the major technical requirements for delivery of the proposed service.
The target SMB company profile includes revenue between $5 million to $500 million annually. The company typically has between 50 and 250 employees. Many of these companies are still doing business using manual processes, which is costing these thousands annually. This does not include the opportunity cost due to lost business due to not being able to maintain enough staff to support more customers or not being able to meet customer's demands for automation. Meanwhile their competitors are implementing newer systems that support B2B automation and back office integrations that fuel long-term growth. The BizTalk Collaboration service positions the target SMB market to be better prepared to support their customer's needs.
Businesses just like consumers must be able to feel that their information is being protected. As a service company we must ensure that we address how to limit our liability while still being able to provide the level of security to keep our customers data secure. Since we plan to provide data transformation services that connect vital business information between two parties we must ensure that both parties sign-off to the establishment of the trading relationship. This can be a very complex issue as existing companies on our network attempt to establish new connections through our B2B network.
If the company decides to target health care providers HIPPA regulations regarding the handling of personal data must closely followed. Due to Sarbanes-Oxley regulations there are requirements that call for specific audits, control and management of financial data, although these would only affect companies that are publicly held. Since the SMB market can be hard to reach, we must ensure that marketing efforts don't violate any anti-spam laws. This includes giving customer the choice of opt-in for receipt of unsolicited e-mails. We prefer the use of opt-in strategy as this allows the customer to manage their e-mail preferences without us making assumptions regarding their wishes.
The critical technical requirements are divided into 3 major categories; the technical infrastructure including hardware, software and networking, data communications infrastructure and the user interface. The primary focus of the technical infrastructure is to ensure that the overall computing environment is sufficiently robust to ensure that a highly available solution is delivered while maintaining the lowest possible operating cost. This will include having multiple sites that will provide for disaster recovery capabilities. The network in each of the data centers will be divided into functional virtual LANs (V-LANs) that will provide backup capabilities, end-user access, database connectivity and operation interfaces with multiple logical paths for each of the V-LANs. This ensures that there is no single point of failure in the architecture. The data centers will be connected through a wide area network utilizing MPLS VPN through multiple service providers. The Internet connections will be provided by a tier-1 ISP within the local data center's market. All the software components will be configured to ensure high-availability is maintained through the use of database replication systems and load-balancing functionality available in the BizTalk server product.
The data communications infrastructure will include an extranet component that logically keeps all Internet traffic from directly connecting to the data centers. All inbound and outbound traffic will be routed through the extranet by way of proxy servers that will act as traffic cops keeping unauthorized visitors from accessing any customer data. All information will be encrypted when it is being transported throughout the Internet through either the use of PKI encryption or SSL authentication depending on the type of traffic being routed. Open connectivity protocols will be utilized to connect to customers and their trading partners, which include AS2, AS3, Secure FTP and ebXML.
The use interface requirements are what differentiate the BizTalk Collaboration services offering from the regional players and other value added networks. Many of the current offerings are a heterogeneous set of tools that don't integrate well together to give the customer easy navigation from feature to feature while maintaining a professional look and feel. The BizTalk will utilize a set of tools built upon the same platform to ensure that all features work together in harmony. A single sign-on will allow the customer to access all information available to their account. Customization across all features for the site will allow the customer to control the overall look and feel to their specific taste. This feature will also be applied to the branded offering that is made available to larger customers looking to build communities to reach the SMB market. The content of the site will include specific data that allows BizTalk to provide up-to-date information to the community. This information will be searchable from the site as well as published to specific customers based on their profile. Partners will be allowed to communicate with each other regarding specific issues with data integrity via the site, while being able to reference the specific data at issue within the communication without having to create an external copy. This will help to build a true collaboration network where the typical workflow features would be available between external partners, all be it at a very high-level. Additional features include searching for existing trading partners by name and location, finding data that has already been processed and reprocess as required. The system will be able to the generate preconfigured and custom reports including exporting information to MS Excel and Word and well as creating complex tables, graphs and charts. Finally customer service interface will be available to check account status and current balance, which also includes IM, e-mail and VOIP connection to customer service.
For more information about the online collaboration technology or to find out more about what's happening in the information technology or telecommunications industry just follow this link tohttp://www.YourReportsCenter.com.
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