MARK BECKNER is a technical consultant specializing in business development and enterprise application integration. He runs his own consulting firm, Inotek Consulting Group, LLC, delivering innovative solutions to large corporations and small businesses. His projects have included engagements with numerous clients throughout the United States, and range in nature from mobile application development to complete integration solutions. He is the author of Pro EDI in BizTalk Server 2006 R2 (Apress, 2007) and a coauthor of BizTalk 2006 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Apress, 2006), and has spoken at a number of venues, including Microsoft Tech Ed.

Mark resides with his wife, Sara, in western Colorado with their dog, Rosco, the Adventure Mutt. He can be contacted at [email protected] for any questions regarding the concepts in this book, or for advice on integration projects, BizTalk implementations, or other consulting endeavors.

MARK SIMMS is a field program manager with Microsoft’s CSD Customer Experience group, focused on BizTalk Server and RFID adoption. He has been developing RFID-enabled systems for more than eight years, both with Microsoft and as a cofounder of Cathexis Innovations, and he has been consulting in the software industry since 1994. Currently, Mark focuses on developing field-readiness content and guidance in developing end-to-end solutions on top of BizTalk Server. He also has a blog at blogs.msdn.com/masimms.

RAM VENKATESH is the founder and CEO of S3 Edge Software, which delivers real-time visibility solutions using the BizTalk RFID platform for warehouse visibility, work-in-progress, and high-value asset tracking. Prior to starting S3, he was the software architect for the Microsoft BizTalk RFID platform. While at Microsoft, Venkatesh worked on a number of innovations involving database technologies and the integration of the .NET Framework into SQL Server, and filed more than 30 patent applications along the way.

Venkatesh is well known in the RFID community and has been a featured speaker at several Microsoft and industry events, including the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference, Tech Ed, RFID Journal Live, and the Paris RFID Show. He resides in Hyderabad, India with his wife Ritu and daughter Tara, and can be reached at [email protected] for any questions regarding this book, BizTalk, or building RFID solutions.