BizTalk is a middleware tool, which uses XML as its core technology to communicate between any n given systems.
Combining different systems into effective business processes is a challenging problem. Accordingly, BizTalk Server 2006 includes a range of technologies. The figure illustrates the product’s major components.
As the figure suggests, the heart of the product is the BizTalk Server 2006 Engine. The engine has two main parts:
A messaging component that provides the ability to communicate with a range of other software. By relying on adapters for different kinds of communication, the engine can support a variety of protocols and data formats, including Web services and many others.
Support for creating and running graphically-defined processes called orchestrations. Built on top of the engine’s messaging components, orchestrations implement the logic that drives all or part of a business process.
Several other components can also be used in concert with the engine, including:
A Business Rule Engine that evaluates complex sets of rules.
A Health and Activity Tracking tool that lets developers and administrators monitor and manage the engine and the orchestrations it runs.
An Enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO) facility that provides the ability to map authentication information between Windows and non-Windows systems.
On top of this foundation, BizTalk Server 2006 includes a group of technologies that address the more business-oriented needs of information workers. Those technologies are:
Business Activity Monitoring, which information workers use to monitor a running business process. The information is displayed in business rather than technical terms, and business users determine what information is displayed.
Business Activity Services, which information workers use to set up and manage interactions with trading partners.
These technologies are focused on solving the problems inherent in using a diverse set of software to support automated business processes.
Technical Ref: MSDN
