Oslo...?

Oslo - Making a new class of
model-driven and service-enabled applications mainstream

What is Oslo BizTalk
Future BizTalk V.Next?

Oslo, the latest, the next generation SOA and BPM
technologies that will let Microsoft lead the way the SOA maturity space.

It simply
consist of 5 areas:
1. .NET Framework 4.0
and evolution of WCF and WF into a model driven development that allows easier
services enabled processes
2. The next
version of BizTalk Server 6 which will now build on top of WCF and WF - for
example the messaging layer will be based on WCF messages not XML
messages
3. Hosted Services - examples of
early beta versions can be found in labs.BizTalk.net and this is just will get
more mature and enterprise ready
4. Tools
that manages lifecycle support and model driven design of service enabled
composite applications that will be incorporated in VS 10
5. Metadata repository like the one in MSE but fully
integrated into the next generation of System Center so deployment, versioning
and managing these services become easier.

Microsoft is investing some of the top engineering talent at the
company to make two key investments:

Deliver a world class SOA platform across client, server, and
cloud. Microsoft has been a thought leader in Web services and SOA technologies
since the very beginning and has delivered industry leading technologies such as
the Windows Communication Foundation and BizTalk Server.

Deliver a world class and mainstream modeling platform that
helps the roles of IT collaborate and enables better integration between IT and
the business. The modeling platform enables higher level descriptions, so called
declarative descriptions, of the application.

This set of technical investments will unify our services and
modeling platforms, by moving from a world where models describe the application
to a world where models are the application. The technology to deliver these
capabilities will be delivered through BizTalk Server "V6", System Center "V5",
Visual Studio "V10", BizTalk Services "V1" and .NET Framework "V4". The code
name for this effort is "Oslo".