Mapping the Universe with SQL Server 

13 min read

This blog post was co-authored by Joseph Sirosh, Corporate Vice President, and Rimma V. Nehme, Principal Software Engineer, at the Data Group at Microsoft.   Figure 1: Visible objects of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7 dataset. Over the last 15 years a database helped revolutionize an entire field of science. Astronomical discovery and Read more

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Planning an efficient upgrade from SQL Server 2005: Step 1 of 3 

2 min read

Step 1: Discover what’s in your database environment Upgrading a database can seem daunting. Fortunately, Microsoft offers exceptional tools and support to help you smoothly upgrade from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2014 and Microsoft Azure SQL Database before the end-of-support deadline on April 12, 2016. In this series of three blog posts, we’ll Read more

Real-Time Operational Analytics Using In-Memory Technology 

3 min read

Operational workloads refer to the business transactions that are critical to running a business. For example, a retail store has a transactional system to create or modify new orders, and a credit card company tracks all charges made by vendors on behalf of its customers. These transactional systems are critical to businesses, as any downtime Read more

Get the most out of SQL Server 2016 

2 min read

Blog post series to highlight new features and enhancements available with SQL Server 2016. Data, and the ability to extract actionable intelligence from it, is driving transformation in how we do business today. With SQL Server 2016, it’s never been easier to capture, transform, mash-up, analyze and visualize any data, of any size, at any Read more

Download the new JDBC 4.2 for SQL Server Driver 

1 min read

We are pleased to announce availability of the Microsoft JDBC 4.2 Driver for SQL Server! The updated driver provides robust data access to Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Azure SQL Database for Java-based applications. The JDBC Driver for SQL Server is a Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) type 4 driver that implements full compliance with the Read more

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New SQL Server 2014 Logo Certification Program 

2 min read

We are proud to announce the SQL Server Logo Certification Program, part of the Enterprise Cloud Application Logo Certification Programs announced in April. The program is designed to help application providers and ISV partners drive growth through recognition that their applications work with Microsoft SQL Server 2014 and global exposure in the Microsoft Pinpoint partner Read more

Analytics Platform System Update 4 Generally Available 

1 min read

Matt Usher, Senior Program Manager, DS SQL Engineering We are pleased to announce the general availability of Appliance Update 4 for the Microsoft Analytics Platform System. The Microsoft Analytics Platform System is a turnkey big data analytics appliance, combining Microsoft’s massively parallel processing (MPP) data warehouse technology with HDInsight, Microsoft’s 100% Apache Hadoop distribution, and Read more

New Azure SQL Database offerings add capabilities to scale data up and out 

2 min read

Tiffany Wissner, Senior Director of Data Platform MarketingAt Microsoft we’re committed to meeting the needs of our customers by offering choices as they build cloud applications for scale and performance. Today we’re continuing to deliver on this commitment with two announcements: New high performance levels for Azure SQL Database, P4 and P11, with greater flexibility to Read more

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SQL Server 2016 Community Technology Preview 2.2 is available 

3 min read

The SQL Server engineering team is committed to SQL Server 2016 monthly public preview release rhythm. Following CTP 2.1 release last month, we are excited to announce the immediate availability of SQL Server 2016 CTP 2.2 release for download. This incremental release includes new capabilities for query store, stretch database, core engine, temporal, MDS, reporting Read more

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Azure is the Ideal Cloud for Your Database Workloads with Increased SQL Server Compatibility, Security, Automation, and Power 

4 min read

By Tiffany Wissner, Sr. Director for Data Platform Marketing Today we are announcing general availability for the latest update to Azure SQL Database, introduction of new SQL Database security features, more automation for SQL Server in Azure Virtual Machines and SQL Server on G-Series VMs.  Take a closer look at these exciting new improvements. 1.       Read more