Microsoft Announces New Database Consolidation Appliance, Enhances Cloud Offerings

REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In today's PASS Summit 2011 keynote address, Quentin Clark, corporate vice president of Microsoft SQL Server Database Systems Group, underscored the company's commitment to cloud computing and announced new technologies that will help customers achieve greater flexibility and scalability across public, private and hybrid cloud deployments. Clark also reinforced yesterday's message that SQL Server 2012 is a significant step forward for customers running mission-critical applications and business intelligence (BI) solutions. He also expanded on the new cloud-ready capabilities of the platform, including interoperability with SQL Azure and upcoming appliances.

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"It's our goal to help customers achieve ultimate scalability, performance and deployment flexibility for mission-critical workloads running in the public and private cloud," Clark said. "Built from the same code base, SQL Server 2012 and SQL Azure provide a complete database solution for the enterprise. The latest releases offer huge advancements that address the evolving needs of IT."

SQL Server 2012 Today

During his keynote address, Clark highlighted top product features and named customers that have already deployed SQL Server 2012. ServiceU Corp. is a leading provider of online and on-demand event management software. The company's mission-critical applications, which run on Microsoft SQL Server, are responsible for its entire revenue. ServiceU has achieved stringent high-availability goals with zero data loss using SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn.

"At ServiceU, we are using SQL Server 2012 to make significant improvements in the way we handle high availability and disaster recovery," said David P. Smith, director of Software Architecture at ServiceU, part of Active Network. "The new product features allow us to do much more with less downtime and to more creatively manage our file system — all while seamlessly exposing the file structure to Windows. SQL Server 2012's numerous new features have truly changed the way we use SQL Server."

Simplifying Database Consolidation

For customers grappling with database sprawl, Microsoft and HP announced the November availability of the HP Enterprise Database Consolidation Appliance optimized for SQL Server, which offers a complete solution to speed deployment and simplifies management of thousands of databases with a private cloud. This first-in-the-industry database consolidation appliance helps customers deploy databases in minutes instead of weeks; reduces operations costs up to 75 percent through savings in floor space, energy and infrastructure; and requires no application or database changes when consolidating databases.

"The Enterprise Database Consolidation Appliance is an ideal solution for enterprise customers who need to consolidate databases; it delivers the benefit of the cloud while keeping your data in-house," said Brian Knight, SQL Server MVP and founder of Pragmatic Works Software. "This is the solution that many companies have been looking for."

Enabling Cloud on Your Terms

Microsoft today announced the immediate availability of two new Community Technology Previews (CTPs) aimed at enhancing BI capabilities and connecting data in the cloud and on-premises. SQL Azure Reporting enables developers to use familiar tools to create and deploy operational reports to the cloud, which can easily be embedded in an application or browser. SQL Azure Data Sync enables easier sharing and synchronization between multiple SQL Server and SQL Azure databases, helping customers to extend their enterprise data to the cloud and synchronize data between SQL Azure databases for geo-availability. Additional improvements that will be available by the end of 2011 in the next SQL Azure Service Release include SQL Azure Federation, a new capability that allows developers to build scale-out applications across multiple databases, and an increase in SQL Azure database size to 150 gigabytes, which provides additional scalability. Further tightening the connection between SQL Server and SQL Azure, Microsoft also shared that SQL Server 2012 will enable customers to easily back up their SQL Server databases directly to the Windows Azure platform, providing customers with cloud-based solutions for database backup.

For more information about today's news, to download the latest SQL Server 2012 CTP or to download the SQL Azure Reporting or Data Sync CTPs, visit http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver or http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

SOURCE Microsoft Corp.