INDUSTRY

Vision for next release of SQL Server announced at Microsoft’s first Business Intelligence Conference. Today at the first Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) Conference, Microsoft Corp. presented its vision for the next version of its flagship data management and analysis platform. SQL Server code-named “Katmai,” the next release of Microsoft SQL Server, will help companies access and manage rapidly increasing volumes of data for mission-critical applications, increase their ability to better understand the organization with business insight, and reduce difficulties associated with managing complex systems. SQL Server “Katmai” builds on the success of SQL Server 2005 as a proven platform that is crucial to the completion of business projects, delivering increased functionality to a comprehensive range of applications from the desktop to the data center. “We developed SQL Server with the goal of providing a data management and analysis platform for all companies regardless of size or budget,” said Ted Kummert, corporate vice president of the Data and Storage Platform Division at Microsoft. “With the release of ‘Katmai,’ we’ll take the next step on our data platform vision by delivering a comprehensive and integrated business intelligence solution. Expanding the usability of data across businesses will give customers more value for their IT investments.” Kummert will go into further details about Microsoft’s vision of SQL Server “Katmai” during his keynote address at the conference on May 10. Kummert will show how SQL Server “Katmai” is part of Microsoft’s vision for pervasive BI, illustrating the company’s unified commitment to offer a complete and integrated BI solution that customers can rely on to meet all critical BI needs. Scheduled to be available in 2008, SQL Server “Katmai” will deliver on Microsoft’s overall data platform vision to meet the needs of the coming data explosion and the next generation of data-driven applications. Data Platform to Power Business Insights Regardless of Size or Budget SQL Server “Katmai” is designed to do the following: • Provide a scalable and reliable platform with advanced security technology for even the most demanding applications • Reduce the time and cost of managing data infrastructure with innovative policy-based management Redefining Pervasive Insight SQL Server “Katmai” brings powerful BI capabilities and valuable data even closer to every user: • Empowers users to easily consume information due to increased integration with front-end tools in the 2007 Microsoft Office system, including Office Excel 2007, Excel Services, Office SharePoint Server and Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 • Provides reports of any size or complexity internally within organizations and externally to partners and suppliers • Aligns corporate decision-making by collaborating on key analysis and reports within Microsoft Office SharePoint Server • Integrates all relevant data within the enterprise into a scalable and comprehensive data warehouse platform Dynamic Development for Data Management Solutions SQL Server “Katmai” offers these features for developers: • Provides an integrated development environment with Microsoft Visual Studio and .NET Framework that will accelerate development of new applications with a higher level of data abstraction • Enables developers to synchronize data from virtually any device to the central data store Beyond Relational Data SQL Server “Katmai” enables users to do the following: • Manage any type of data including relational data, documents, geographic information and XML • Work with a consistent set of services and tools Availability SQL Server “Katmai” is scheduled to be delivered in 2008. More information is available at its web site.