BizTalk Server 2010 Unleashed has hit the news stands–grab your copy now!

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Fresh off the presses (quite literally!) the latest book on BizTalk Server 2010 has been released to market and available now at your favorite online bookstore. It has  been a year in the making, working with a veteran author crew (you can read Brian’s blog post here),  and hopefully we managed to hold our own in authoring the 2 RFID chapter in this book   (on BizTalk RFID Server and BizTalk RFID Mobile).

So give the book a whirl (you can get it at Amazon by clicking on the image above) and let me know what you think – whether you are interested in building RFID applications only (which Microsoft has enabled via a stand-alone device mgmt and event processing platform on server and mobile devices), or if you’ve always been curious about the entire BizTalk story, I promise that you wont be disappointed.

Happy reading, and I will leave you with my acknowledgements from the inside cover of the book as well as an abstract from the back cover

Acknowledgments:

Though I was only responsible for the two chapters on RFID, this would not have been possible for a first-time author without a stellar support cast in the background, starting with Ram Venkatesh, my colleague at S3Edge and the primary inspiration behind nudging me down the “authoring” path. The RFID chapters would not have been possible without your selfless help and guidance. So, many thanks, my friend! A big thank-you to Clint Tennill from Xterprise, and Gijs for their time and effort to review and provide invaluable feedback. To Brian and the rest of the veteran authoring crew, thanks for the opportunity to be part of this; you guys totally rock! And finally to Mark, Andy, Neil, and the rest of the crew at Pearson, thanks for your tireless efforts in getting us to the finish line; you guys have been consummate professionals all through the process, and just great to work with.

From the Back Cover

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 Unleashed is the 100% new, 100% practical developer’s guide to Microsoft’s most powerful version of BizTalk Server. Written by an expert team of Microsoft insiders and BizTalk MVPs, it reflects unsurpassed experience with all phases of BizTalk enterprise solutions development, from planning through deployment and administration.

The authors begin by introducing BizTalk Server’s architecture and key integration concepts. Next, they offer in-depth coverage of BizTalk’s foundational features, including schemas, maps, orchestrations, and pipelines. You’ll learn how to effectively utilize both standard and custom adapters; monitor integration services; leverage cloud computing via Windows Azure; implement operational BI solutions; and make the most of business rules and BizTalk’s Business Rules Engine (BRE).

The authors offer best practices and “in the trenches” tips for everything from managing deployments through implementing state-of-the-art mobile RFID solutions. No other book offers this much useful, pragmatic, and tested knowledge for successful BizTalk development.

Brian Loesgen is a Principal Architect Evangelist on Microsoft’s Azure ISV team. A six-time Microsoft MVP, he has extensive experience in building advanced enterprise, ESB, and SOA solutions. He has coauthored eight books, including SOA with .NET and Windows Azure. Charles Young, a principal consultant at Solidsoft, and Jan Eliasen, an IT architect at Logica, have each been honored repeatedly as BizTalk MVPs, and are highly respected bloggers in the BizTalk community. Scott Colestock, chief architect for Trace Ventures, specializes in using BizTalk to implement integration and service orchestration solutions. He is a member of Microsoft’s Architectural Advisory Board and a BizTalk MVP. Anush Kumar, CTO of S3Edge, served as Microsoft’s RFID business leader and was heavily involved in designing and architecting its BizTalk RFID offerings. Jon Flanders is an independent consultant, instructor for Pluralsight, BizTalk MVP, and author of RESTful .NET.

• Apply BizTalk Server’s sophisticated, scalable message exchange model to support virtually any business requirement
• Get your schemas right the first time, so you can avoid major problems downstream
• Use BizTalk Mapper to create maps for transforming inbound and outbound XML messages and supporting business processes
• Use orchestration to automate even highly-complex processes
• Utilize adapters and WCF to integrate any application, service, or system
• Extend your application’s reach with Windows Azure AppFabric
• Capture key BizTalk infrastructure, services, and business metrics
• Build powerful rules-based solutions with Microsoft’s Business Rules Framework
• Establish an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) that uses BizTalk Server as core messaging infrastructure
• Efficiently manage, configure, and troubleshoot BizTalk through the Administration Console
• Create RFID applications ranging from simple label printing to end-to-end business processes

Cheers!

/a

Join us at the Unitech Booth next Tuesday (9/13) @ the RFID in Healthcare Event in Chicago

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We will be demoing our Industry Solution for Healthcare at the Unitech booth at the RFID in Healthcare Event coming Tuesday– look forward to seeing you there if you are in attendance.

Also, do not miss the talk by our customer (Blood Center of Wisconsin) discussing the Transfusion Medicine RFID solution we are deploying at Blood Centers and Hospitals.

2:45 PM

Vein-to-Vein Implementation of HF RFID in Blood Collection Through Transfusion

ISO 18000-3m1 13.56 MHz RFID tags have been accepted by the International Society for Blood Transfusion and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as data carriers to augment ISBT128 bar-code data on blood products. This is the first FDA-permitted implementation of RFID in all phases of blood banking. In this session, learn about RFID technology and equipment selection, as well as FDA-required RF safety testing, integration with the blood enterprise-computing system, RFID tag performance and tag survivability issues. The presenter will also discuss the benefits and deployment issues at the BloodCenter of Wisconsin and the University of Iowa Health Center.

Speakers:

Alfonso Gutierrez, UW RFID Lab Director and Director,UWEBC Research and Education
Clive P. Hohberger, Ph.D, RFID Systems Architect,BloodCenter of Wisconsin

Takeaways:

• How the use of RFID can result in significant ROI over the use of bar codes in blood-center operations, through labor savings and error reduction
• How RFID use integrates with existing ISBT128 global bar-code data structures
• Why tag design and survivability are a problem due to blood centrifugation and irradiation

The Road to Mission-Critical RFID begins this fall!

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Its September already, and been a while since I posted due to all the fun stuff we have been working on. The months ahead promise to be one of the most exciting periods in the life of our little company, with a bunch of interesting (and impactful) deployments and events lined up – leading to some significant milestone being notched up in deploying Mission-Critical RFID solutions.

These include:

• One of the first (if not the first) Mission-Critical RFID Solution roll-out – at a Fortune 50 company no less – where the S3Edge Industry Solution will be deployed in production 24×7,  as a primary enterprise-wide solution in a cluster-aware “hot-hot” environment (uptime, quick recovery, scalability in action for the first time) across production lines and shipping docks in a discrete manufacturing environment. (Hint: the final product that is being tracked may well be installed in your homes )
• Pilot applications deployed in production – both at blood centers and hospitals – in the transfusion medicine supply chain (see www.transfusionmedicinerfid.org to learn more about this important initiative to track blood bags in the nations blood supply chain, and provide point of care safety during transfusions). If you are in the mid-west area, swing by and say hello at the RFID in Healthcare Event @ Chicago (September 13th), where I can be found at the Unitech booth.
• A go-live of our tool-tracking solution for compliance and safety of personnel in nuclear plants in a large nuclear facility – yet another Mission-Critical solution in action
• And on a different note, the release of the much-awaited BizTalk 2010 Unleashed book, where yours truly had the honor of co-authoring the RFID chapters on BizTalk RFID Server, and BizTalk RFID Mobile – stay tuned for sample pages from these chapters

Lots to look forward to in what promises to be an exciting and eventful Fall season – drop me a note as always if you are interested in learning more about the above initiatives or just stay tuned for updates!

Cheers!

/a