Katmai Is Coming
When SQL Server 2005 hit the pavement a couple of years ago, it was a major
-- and majorly overdue -- upgrade to Microsoft's flagship database management
system. Now, the
next
version of SQL Server, code-named "Katmai," is gathering steam
as it approaches its first Community Technology Preview (CTP). And where SQL
Server 2005 focused heavily on scalability and business intelligence, Katmai
is attacking the proliferation of data types and structures, offering ways to
move unstructured and spatial data from warehouse to devices.
According to Microsoft SQL Server Product Manager Francois Ajenstat, Katmai
users will be able to "natively store documents within SQL server. You'll
be able to query it and do standard things you do in a database -- select, inserts,
updates, deletes -- to documents. It means you'll be able to use our standard
management tools. You'll able to use the security policies that you implement
in SQL Server directly on those documents."
Currently scheduled to ship some time in 2008, Katmai may also end up debuting
Microsoft's ADO.NET Entity Framework (EF), which enables developers to program
against data defined in a conceptual fashion instead of directly interacting
with traditional table-and-column data. The framework is based on Microsoft's
Entity Data Model specification, and was originally slated to launch with the
next version of Visual Studio, code-named "Orcas." But delays in the
EF Designer prompted Microsoft to pull the functionality. At the moment, it
appears EF could debut with Katmai.
Microsoft has been busy on the data access front, what with LINQ, EF and now
the Katmai version of SQL Server. What are your thoughts on Microsoft's data
efforts? Let me know at mdesmond@reddevnews.com.
Posted by Michael Desmond on 05/23/2007