Biztalk Blog Evaluation Integration

Azure Logic Apps vs. BizTalk: A comparison between old and new integration platforms

Steef Jan-Wiggers recently shared Microsoft’s product road map for 2016. It will deliver Microsoft’s iPaaS offering on-premises through Logic Apps on Azure Stack in preview around Q3 2016 and GA around the end of the year.connecting systems, devices and applications together is going to change, or may I say that it already has changed.

Connecting systems, devices and applications together is going to change, or may I say that it already has changed.

The emerging iPaaS (integration platform-as-a-Service) space is naturally of interest to us who have been doing BizTalk since last 15 years. Here’s a feature-to-feature comparison between Azure Logic Apps and Microsoft BizTalk, though, this comparison will remain a work-in-progress until the Logic Apps platform matures.

Get the Full, Free PDF Version of the Comparison Here.

Customer WeigtageLogic AppsMicrosoft BizTalk
Product offeringDetailsExamples Availability Weighted ScoreAvailability Weighted Score
Standards Support       
EDIYes8Yes8
Rosettanet (Multiple versions)No0Yes8.5
SWIFTNo0Yes7.5
ebXMLNo0
EDIFACTYes7Yes8
X12Yes8Yes8.5
FileYes8.5Yes7
HTTP(S) Yes9Yes8.5
FTPYes8Yes8.5
FTPSYes8Yes8.5
SFTPYes7Yes8
SOAP/WSYes5Yes8
RNIFNo0Yes7
SMTP/POPYes5Yes7.5
Web ServicesYes9Yes8
SOA ComplianceYes8Yes8.5
XSLTYes8.5Yes8.5
XPATHYes8.5Yes8
XMLYes7Yes7
Flat FilesYes8Yes8
(S)MIMEYes7.5Yes8
Process Designer       
BPML ComplianceNo0Yes7
ExtensibilityYes8Yes8
ComprehensivenessNo0Yes9
Support for human interactionHigher9Lower6
BPEL ComplianceYes8Yes6
State Based workflowsYes7.5Yes8
Configurability per partner (code lists)Higher8Lower6
Data Transformation       
PerformanceHow efficiently is the visual map converted to executable codeVery High9Lower7
Ease of developmentThe ease with which transformations can be appliedHigher8.5Lower6.5
Data manipulation functionsData manipulation, augmentation, lookups.Limited5Vast8
Data representation diversityAbility to support multiple rep standards (flat file,EDI,XML.. )Less Powerful6More Powerful9
Standards Supportversions of EDI, RosettanetYes6.5Yes7.5
Support for LookupsEase with which database lookups can be performedYes8Yes8
XSLT SupportStandard supportYes6Yes8
Speed of developmentHierarchy normalization etc..Very High9Lower5
Trading Partner Management       
Code listsNo4Yes7
MetadataYes7Yes7
Business Rules and Policy Management       
Business rules of biztalk are applicableYes7Yes7
Adapter       
SQLYes8Yes8
Messaging Layer       
Publish subscribePublishing API apps in marketplaceHigher9Lower5
ESBYes8Yes8
Other       
 – Sourcecode K2.net product which is based upon windows presentation foundation and enables defining and executing human workflows  through web applications and it uses BizTalk for System workflowsNo0yes7
BizTalk can communicate with any application, with little or no change at all to source applicationYes8Yes8
Through BizTalk business process work flows can be exposed as web service which can consume by any SOAP compliant client.Yes6Yes7
Performance       
Long running transactionsInefficient3Effective8
Scalability        
Scale Up (processor limits, memory limits…)BizTalk Enterprise Edition can be scaled up to unlimited number processors and memoryYes9Yes8.5
Availability /Reliability        
Availability of rapid development toolsBizTalk seamlessly integrates with visual
studio 2005 which is outstanding rapid development IDE
Yes9Yes8
Deployability        
Quality of documentationThere is a huge collection of Documentation,
tutorials and samples available for BizTalk on Web
Lower5Higher9
Security       
Non repudiationYes8Yes7
Availability of SDKsBizTalk Server comes with SDK with rich object model to extend existing functionalityYes7Yes8.5
Key Financial Metrics      
ROIHigher5Lower (Short-run)7
Payback PeriodShort9Long6
Strategy       
Product StrategyGrowth9Mature/Decline6
Cost of upgradesHigher6.5Lower8

Author

Muhammad Omer

Muhammad Omer is the founding partner at Allied Consultants. Areas of interest for him are entreprenuership in organizations, IT Management, Integration and Business Intelligence.

Comment (1)

  1. Aboorvaraja
    March 9, 2016

    Nice Post 🙂

Comments are closed.