A developer builds a BizTalk solution and deploys it to his own BizTalk environment and tests it. As soon as he determines that his BizTalk application is finished enough, he can export it from the BizTalk Administration Console. An MSI and binding file (XML) are extracted and can be viewed as a complete "backup" of the application. The MSI and binding files can be separate or binding files are included within the MSI. Both can be used to install an application in another BizTalk environment. The administrator does not have to rely on Visual Studio to deploy straight from the code as the ability to create an MSI is offered through the BizTalk Management Console.
The drawback with MSI is that it represents a certain version, and when outdated an extraction of the right version is required. Deployments to different stages (test, acceptance, and production) are manual tasks and require some discipline by administrators. Besides that, versioning is...