This is just a formalized relationship between two organizations that was already happening in practice, said Steven Martin, group product manager for the new Connected Systems Division (CSG) unit.
The naming of the unit reflects the Connected Systems branding theme that is already part of the company’s marketing campaigns. CSG becomes part of the Server and Tools business, which is headed by senior vice president Eric Rudder.
The reorganization, combining the groups responsible for middleware and specialized business process servers with communications, reflects the fact that with Services-Oriented Architectures (SOAs), all of these functions will be virtually inseparable. For instance, BizTalk would orchestrate the services while Indigo communicates them.
Specifically, CSD merges the Distributed Systems Group (DSG) and the Business Process/Integration Division (BPID).
The former DSG group handled Indigo (the code name for the communications feature of Longhorn that is being formally christened Windows Communication Foundation), MSMQ, Active Directory, Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS) and InfoCard (Microsoft’s new federated identity token), and the Web Services Enhancements (WSE).
BPID was responsible for BizTalk Server, Host Integration Server, Commerce Server, RFID, Industry Standard Accelerators and Windows Workflow Services (code-named Windows OE).
According to Martin, the reorganization will not change product plans. Although he wouldn’t characterize for how long the tie-in was set in the pipeline, he pawned off the announcements as essentially a routine organizational change.
With early betas for Longhorn/Vista having hit the streets, the client version is targeted for release during the first half of 2006, with the server version set for the following year.
