Upgrading to BizTalk Server 2016 - Experience is Key

Let me start by saying that I have been around the block a few times. Not bragging, just a fact. As a technologist, tinkerer and gadget guy I am always on the lookout for something new. The new gadget, the new technology, the new thing.

For me, the first time I really fell in “love” with a specific technology platform was around the year 2000. Everyone was going crazy on the Y2K thing, but honestly, I could not be bothered. That was the time I discovered a product called BizTalk Server. I know, it sounds nuts, who falls in love with a server platform product by Microsoft? Well, I did. It was a way to get completely disparate systems talking to each other, which to me, back in the day, was just wonderful. As such started my long career as a BizTalk Server enthusiast and champion.

Fast forward to modern day times. Today there are many integration platforms on the market, but BizTalk Server is still the platform in my opinion, with the most enthusiasts and champions, like me. So, to no surprise I do not like to see BizTalk fail. It shouldn’t fail. It has no reason to fail. BizTalk ONLY fails when it’s not done right. Experienced integration engineers, that’s the key component to BizTalk NOT failing.

Recently, I started seeing a new trend. Companies have multiple BizTalk environments to run their EAI and B2B integration solutions. I see companies with a mix of environments from BizTalk 2016 to 2006 R2. More than one recent customer is maintaining multiple (2-3) versions of BizTalk Server in their environments. I noticed a pattern, companies embark on BizTalk upgrades and migration projects and then seem to get stuck somewhere between just started and halfway done. This is especially prevalent where there are many and complex integrations.

I found this to be particularly interesting and decided to spend some time investigating the scenarios. After doing quite a bit of research, I found the following:

• The true scope of upgrading to a newer version of BizTalk is often underestimated
• The new version is not always well understood, new features are not capitalized on, or the new version is not implemented correctly
• The in-house BizTalk team does not have the capacity to execute on a 3-month upgrade/migration project
• Business-as-usual activities such as production support, new feature development, maintenance and monitoring cause delays in normal upgrade / migration projects
• Instability is introduced and since business trumps IT, quick-and-dirty fixes are made to stabilize the environment

Some of the above, and in other cases all of the above reasons result in companies ending up with more than one of each, production, stage, QA and development environments. This ends up being costly to maintain, results in multiple versions of the code, locks up additional corporate resources such as infrastructure, people and makes for a much more complex environment. DevOps becomes a nightmare and the overall cost of ownership is unnecessarily ballooned.

Being a problem solver, BizTalk champion and entrepreneur, my company (Synegrate) launched the BizTalk 2016 Version Upgrade Tactical Start program. This program directly addresses the migration problem and gets companies onto their new BizTalk platforms in the least amount of time, unlocking the true potential of the new platform. Our objective is not to outdo/substitute your local BizTalk team, but rather to support them and provide them the tools and training to be successful. Our goal is to be a BizTalk tactical team; to step in, get the migration done, cross-train your team and step away.

Do any of these apply to your business? Be pro-active. Call us. We do this every day and with that comes experience. We know what to look out for and what to avoid. Use our experience to your advantage.