Candidate architectures

We have two viable choices when looking to implement a Scatter-Gather pattern using an aggregator. One of them is the new Windows Server AppFabric release and the other is the BizTalk orchestration engine.

Candidate architecture #1 BizTalk Server

BizTalk is Microsoft's Enterprise Integration tool and has a robust messaging and workflow (orchestration) engine. Maccoll Bank is already, largely a Microsoft-based technology firm. BizTalk provides full and complete integration with Microsoft and other heterogeneous technology through its adapter framework. For the purpose of this analysis, the assumption will be that BizTalk is not already in use within the organization.

We can take a look at the decision framework as it relates to BizTalk to see if a BizTalk-based solution is a fit for this use case.

Solution design aspects

The system needs to be capable of processing one million messages over a 24 hour period. The peak load represents 25 messages per second. When dealing...