Microsoft just confirmed what many people already sensed: BizTalk Server 2020 is the final release of BizTalk. While the support continues for quite a while - especially for those organizations opting for extended support - there is clearly no sign of continued investment in the technology.
Having worked extensively with BizTalk versions from 2000 through 2020, it came as no surprise that the technology is sunsetting. I learned many tricks of the trade and as great as the product was in the last 2 decades, it could not withstand the competition with the cloud.
The full announcement can be read here, but the general gist is: BizTalk has no future roadmap, mainstream support ends in 2028 and extended support ends in 2030. There will be no new features, no new platform investments.
To be clear:
The distinction matters greatly!
For organizations currently running BizTalk Server:
In general: if your BizTalk platform is stable and change velocity is low, there is no operational cliff edge. Panic-driven migrations are unnecessary. BizTalk remains a reliable runtime, for now.
Its strategic viability as a long-term integration platform is gone.
From this point forward:
As a decision maker: running BizTalk Server after this announcement is no longer a neutral choice: it is an explicit decision to remain on a closed, non-evolving platform.
This may well be the most common misunderstanding now:
Continuing to run BizTalk does not mean you are future proof. While support means patches, security fixes and assistance from Microsoft can still be expected, it will not help you achieve your goals in being future proof.
As such, the real risk in waiting too long is not technical failure, but the absence of a clear migration path.
Everything is now about organization timing. Late migrations typically suffer from compressed timelines, forced decisions and loss of knowledge and higher costs. The earlier you plan, the more options you retain!
In case you do not have a clear inventory of your current integration landscape: document it now!
Start planning, documenting and budgeting for your migration away from BizTalk Server, no later than 2028, unless you would like to pay for extended support (until 2030).
Once you have inventoried your integration landscape, you need to prioritize migration away from BizTalk.
To do this, you need clear guidance on what options are out there. As you may have read in the Microsoft announcement, Microsoft’s integration investments are clearly centered around Azure Integration Services, with Logic Apps as a core component.
Opinions vary, however. Based on our experience, there are several viable directions to consider.
In the next articles, we will look at when and if staying on BizTalk still makes sense, when it doesn’t, and how organizations can start thinking about a controlled, strategic transition.