This is pretty big for small business customers. Biztalk Partner Edition is $1000. InfoPath is $199. SBS already includes Windows, Exchange, ISA, SQL and FrontPage. All this for $1499 for 5 users...it would be more like $5000 if you went out and bought these separately. You can get it even cheaper through an OEM like Dell or HP.
Now the only concern I have is this. Giving a customer Biztalk and InfoPath is like giving them a box full of nuts and bolts. By themselves, you can’t do a darn thing with Biztalk and InfoPath. They’re useless. It’s only when you integrate them (via development) into a business process that they are useful. My hope is that our services partners see this as an opportunity to add value to the customer and work with them to implement these solutions. Otherwise, it’s just giving away software for the sake of giving away software. It’ll just collect dust on the back shelf of some small business customer…
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 NFR
Ready for Biztalk Server 2004? If you've got SBS 2003 Premium the site above will get you Biztalk and InfoPath. That's actually pretty cool that you get InfoPath as well...very nice product. Make sure to order yours today!
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[TAZ Networks SBS/SMB Info]