Microsoft Delivers BizTalk Integration Platform For Financial Services

By Mitch Wagner

Microsoft plans next week to introduce BizTalk Accelerator for Financial services, an application designed to help financial services link up for securities trading through the use of Web services protocols.

The software is designed to rapidly manage messaging and trades between financial institutions, as well as correcting errors.

The software is compliant with key financial industry standards, including SWIFT ISO 15022, a standard for securities trading, along with the older standard it replaces, ISO 7775, and standards from FIX and ISITC, two other organizations setting standards for financial transactions.

The first version of the software will focus on payment processing, capital-markets trading, settlement, and delivery processes. It has more than 90 document specifications, or schemas, which describe SWIFT and ISITC messages for payments, foreign exchange, securities trading, and reporting.

BizTalk Accelerator for Financial Services is the fourth industry-specific implementation of BizTalk to ship. Previous versions are RosettaNet, for the high-tech and electronics industries; Suppliers for supplier enablement; and HIPAA for healthcare.

Pricing for the Financial Services software starts at $5,000 per processor for Standard Edition and $20,000 per processor for Enterprise Edition, the same as for the other industry-specific BizTalk Accelerators.