The BizTalk Server 2010 offers the AppFabric Connect feature to enable developers to use BizTalk Mapper in Workflow projects and the capabilities of the BizTalk LOB adapters (that is, the BizTalk Server Adapter Pack). Besides that, there is also the AppFabric Connect for Services feature that brings connectivity with the cloud and extends the reach of BizTalk to the cloud, which opens up the possibility of hybrid integration solutions with on-premise systems and the cloud. AppFabric Connect for Services is not offered out of the box, but can be obtained through the BizTalk Server 2010 Feature Pack.
To use the AppFabric Connect feature of BizTalk, it needs to be installed and configured on the BizTalk developer machine and runtime environment that is, test, acceptance, and/or production. The operating system required for this feature is Windows 2008 (R2), Vista, or Windows 7. The last two are client operating systems and are...