Data Driverby David Ramel

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SQL Server 2014 Takes Another Step Closer to Release

Microsoft today announced the availability of SQL Server 2014 CTP2, a near-final version highlighted by new in-memory capabilities formerly called Project Hekaton.

The in-memory enhancements include new Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) features (Hekaton), and column store technology, along with better T-SQL support and new indexes and advisory tools. The product already featured in-memory data warehousing and business intelligence functionality.

New cloud capabilities such as easier backup and recovery in Windows Azure were also announced by Microsoft exec Quentin Clark in his keynote address at the Professional Association of SQL Server (PASS) Summit 2013 in Charlotte, N.C.

Clark noted that this "public and production-ready" release is shipping only 18 months after SQL Server 2012, a much faster release cycle than previous SQL Server versions.

"A year ago we announced project 'Hekaton,' and today we have customers realizing performance gains of up to 30x," said Clark, corporate vice president of the Data Platform Group. "This work, combined with our early investments in Analysis Services and Excel, means Microsoft is delivering the most complete in-memory capabilities for all data workloads -- analytics, data warehousing and OLTP."

Clark also nodded to the Big Data phenomenon, noting that customers are collecting and storing more data than ever before, such as machine signals, data from devices and services and even data from outside the organization, "so we invest in scaling the database and a Hadoop-based solution."

The new Windows Azure backup and recovery features are part of Microsoft's "hybrid cloud" strategy in which customers can work with SQL Server databases on-premises and back them up and recover them from the cloud. Clark announced today that all currently supported SQL Server releases can use Windows Azure backup. A preview of a stand-alone SQL Server Backup for Windows Azure Tool will be available for download later this week.

The CTP2 trial is available for download now along with a product guide.

Posted by David Ramel on 10/16/2013


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