SQL Server 2008 Enhances Management, Business Intelligence

Wednesday, 03 December 2008

New features and improved tools in SQL Server 2008, Microsoft's database management system and business intelligence platform, will help organizations manage large, complex database installations. The release also delivers important new capabilities for software developers while remaining compatible with past versions. An overhauled reporting system leads updates in SQL Server's business intelligence features and joins numerous performance improvements that will help customers tackle larger data warehouses and analytic databases, with further improvements on the horizon for the next two versions. However, the business intelligence improvements and removal of some components will complicate migrations in some organizations.

This report provides a guide for customers and Microsoft partners evaluating SQL Server 2008. It outlines the new version's improvements for database management and business intelligence, and notes major areas where organizations might run into compatibility problems. The report also provides a roadmap to future SQL Server releases and summarizes the product's pricing, licensing, and packaging for organizations.

Sections in the SQL Server 2008 Enhances Management,
Business Intelligence Report:

Executive Summary: Report outlines the new version's improvements for database management and business intelligence, the major areas where organizations might run into compatibility problems, the roadmap of future SQL Server releases, and the product's pricing, licensing, and packaging

Introduction: SQL Server 2008 delivers many small but notable improvements to Microsoft's database management system and business intelligence platform

New Enterprise Features for Database Engine: New management features in SQL Server 2008 could ease administration of large, complex deployments, but the most interesting features are available only in SQL Server Enterprise Edition

SQL Server 2008 Improves Auditing, Change Tracking: New features in SQL Server 2008 will help administrators and developers audit and track database changes, but some features ship only in the product's Enterprise and Developer Editions

SQL Server Updated for Developers: SQL Server 2008 delivers new query language features and data types for applications that process maps and other geometric data, as well as new capabilities for data warehousing and content management

Reporting Services Overhauled for SQL Server 2008: A major overhaul in SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services improves report processing performance and offers more flexible report layout, but the scope of changes could complicate upgrades

Data Integration, Analysis Improved for SQL Server 2008: SQL Server 2008 speeds the execution of sparsely populated Analysis Services and of Integration Services packages running on multiprocessor machines

BI Improvements on SQL Server Roadmap: 'Kilimanjaro,' a set of business intelligence improvements for SQL Server, is planned for the first half of 2010

SQL Server 2008 Pricing and Packaging: Overview of SQL Server 2008 product pricing, capabilities of the seven different versions, and licensing options and rules, including rules governing use with hardware virtualization

Resources: Links to additional information about SQL Server 2008, including developer-related features, Reporting Services, Integration Services and Analysis Services, plans for upcoming releases, and licensing and packaging