Pro RFID in BizTalk Server 2009

The market for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is expanding rapidly, constituting billions of dollars annually. As more organizations adopt RFID solutions and related equipment, the need to route, map, and execute workflows based on RFID data grows exponentially. Microsoft’s solution to this demand is BizTalk RFID, an application built to distribute, track, analyze, and provide visibility into enterprise data collected using RFID technologies. To aid in the rapid understanding and adoption of BizTalk RFID, this book’s authors have joined together to present Pro RFID in BizTalk Server 2009, the definitive resource for unlocking the potential of the application.

With extensive code and configuration examples and multiple case studies illustrating how this application is being used in various industries, authors Ram Venkatesh, the lead developer of the BizTalk RFID platform, Mark Simms, a leading architect and developer of BizTalk RFID solutions, and Mark Beckner, a BizTalk Server and enterprise architecture specialist, ensure that you will gain the insight and master the tools necessary to be able to confidently and efficiently implement a BizTalk RFID solution.

What you’ll learn

• Understand RFID BizTalk application design and architecture.
• Build and develop an RFID BizTalk solution.
• Explore in–depth analysis and examples for event and command processing.
• Utilize and implement Mobile RFID solutions.
• Instantiate workflows with the core BizTalk engine’s adapters and orchestrations.
• Validate and route data using the Business Rules Engine.
• Integrate with MSMQ, WCF, web services, and external applications to ensure enterprise adoption.
• Understand guidelines around testing, deploying, and managing RFID BizTalk solutions.
• Store and access RFID–related metrics.
• Learn how the technology is being applied across numerous industries through extensive real–world case studies.

This book is for solution architects, application developers, and IT administrators involved in the development and deployment of Microsoft BizTalk RFID solutions. The essential reference for covering the vital aspects of building solutions with Microsoft BizTalk RFID, adding crucial real–world context and experience to the standard product documentation, this book will cover the end–to–end BizTalk RFID experience: learning, developing, deploying, and managing. Readers at any level of experience should expect to walk away with concrete, tangible actions that can be taken to achieve success with any BizTalk RFID implementation.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a rapidly expanding technology area that uses radio-enabled tags to track stock, equipment and personnel. It is already used to manage billions of dollars worth of merchandise annually. Microsoft’s contribution to the RFID industry is the BizTalk RFID technology incorporated into BizTalk 2009, which is due to be released in March 2009.

This book is written by an author team closely involved with the creation of the technology and includes Ram Venkatesh an ex-Microsoft employee and one of BizTalk RFID’s designers. It aims to give readers a clear understanding of everything they need to know in order to both design BizTalk RFID systems and deploy them into their organization.

Mark Beckner is a Technical Consultant specializing in business development and enterprise application integration. He runs his own consulting firm, Inotek Consulting Group, LLC, delivering innovated solutions to large corporations and small businesses.

His projects have included engagements with numerous clients throughout the U.S., and range in nature from mobile application development to complete integration solutions. He has co-authored BizTalk 2006: A Problem-Solution Approach (Apress, 2006), has spoken at a number of venues including Microsoft's BizTalk 2004 in a Service Oriented World conference, and is certified in Microsoft Technologies, including MCSD.NET.

Mr. Beckner resides with his wife, Sara, in western Colorado with their dog Rosco, the Adventure Mutt. He can be contacted at [email protected] for any questions regarding the concepts in this book, for advice on integration projects, BizTalk 2006 implementations, or other consulting endeavors.

Mark Simms is a cofounder of Cathexis Innovations, a mobile RFID solutions company, and the inventor of the world’s first Bluetooth–enabled mobile RFID reader, IDBlue. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, and as the vice president of research and development at Cathexis, he is responsible for overseeing the technical direction of a wide variety of RFID projects. Representing one of the first hardware vendors involved with Microsoft BizTalk RFID, Mark has been deeply involved with the product since the early beta days, and enjoys writing about it on his blog.

Ram Venkatesh is the founder and CEO of S3 Edge Software, which delivers real–time visibility solutions using the BizTalk RFID platform. Prior to S3, Ram was the software architect for the Microsoft BizTalk RFID platform. While at Microsoft, Venkatesh worked on a number of innovations involving database technologies and the integration of the .NET Framework into SQL Server, and filed over 30 patent applications along the way. His prior work experience includes senior technical roles at GemStone, Webridge, and Amazon.com.