BizTalk is a B2B framework manufactured by Microsoft Corporation. It supports BizTalk compatible schema, which is also referred to as XML Data Schema Reduced (XDR). BizTalk is a type of message-oriented middleware (MOM), which seeks to provide clearly defined schemas that will allow business-to-business information interchange using XML as the data format. The BizTalk framework consists of a technical specification, a centralized repository (the biztalk.org Web portal) and Biztags, which are XML elements enclosing messages. BizTalk leverages existing standards to achieve a rich level of application and operating system interoperability, facilitating efficient e-commerce.

BizTalk serves as a platform for rapid migration to XML to overcome the weaknesses of current systems. Based on the XML standard, it represents one of the first clear advancements in network integration that is possible through XML. While XML provides the “structure” of the information, BizTalk provides the dialects, or dictionaries that are used for understanding the content of the information. Theoretically, applications written independently of each other, running in different companies on different platforms, using different object models, and communicating by different transport protocols, might be able to communicate with one another. Businesses can then make the most of existing legacy applications and mix and match “best of breed” applications from different vendors. A standard set of XML elements, attributes and tags can be used to develop message-exchanging systems.

The BizTalk framework is unique among the existing B2B frameworks in defining a centralized architecture, which provides diverse functions from schema validation and versioning to repository management through the centralized web portal at biztalk.org. The businesses' XML schemas are validated, versioned, registered and stored in the centralized repository.

Until the transition to XML-based systems is complete, legacy systems must talk to other systems in the BizTalk framework through layers of software that convert application-specific date formats to XML. BizTalk encompasses non-XML data as well, converting binary data such as images to a base-64 notation. BizTalk key advantages include: