Microsoft has released its latest version of SQL Server to manufacturing. SQL Server 2014 will be generally available from 1 April 2014.
“SQL Server 2014 is the culmination of thousands of hours of hard work from Microsoft engineers and thousands of hours of testing and input from our preview customers,” said Quentin Clark, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Data Platform Group in an official blog post. “The result is an important component of Microsoft’s overall cloud-first data platform. The platform delivers breakthrough performance, accelerated insights through tools everyone uses and the ability to scale globally on-premises and in the cloud – letting our customers get the most from their data.”
In addition to delivering key hybrid scenarios, this release of SQL Server furthers Microsoft’s commitment to embracing in-memory technology. Memory was identified as a key area of focus when Microsoft examined the changing hardware landscape a few years ago.
“Today, our in-memory technology spans the core workloads in the data platform: business intelligence as part of Analysis Services, Excel and Power BI for Office 365; complex event processing with StreamInsight; in-memory columnstore in SQL Server and our data warehousing product; and now with SQL Server 2014 – in-memory transaction processing,” said Clark.
With the new release, customers can create new business value and new possibilities with data. The in-memory transaction processing (OLTP) speeds up application performance and is built right into the box, meaning customers don’t need to acquire expensive additional software to get the most out of the technology.
The new in-memory OLTP engine in SQL Server 2014 is already helping deliver breakthrough performance to mission-critical applications for customers such as Bwin, Ferranti, TPP, SBI Liquidity Market and Edgenet.
The release is also enabling greater availability and data protection thanks to new hybrid scenarios.
“The hybrid capabilities in SQL Server 2014 make it easier for customers to increase the resiliency of their applications, without adding significant additional cost,” said Eron Kelly, general manager of Microsoft’s Data Platform Group. “We are bringing new value to customers, including the ability to add SQL Server 2014 in a Window Azure Virtual Machine as an additional secondary to your AlwaysOn solution. Lufthansa Systems is a full-spectrum IT consulting and services organisation that serves airlines, financial services firms, healthcare systems, and many more businesses. To better anticipate customer needs for high-availability and disaster-recovery solutions, Lufthansa Systems piloted a solution on SQL Server 2014 and Windows Azure that led to faster and more robust data recovery, reduced costs, and the potential for a vastly increased focus on customer service.”
SQL Server 2014’s AlwaysOn technology has been built to enroll Windows Azure virtual machines running SQL Server into customers’ disaster recovery solution. AlwaysOn is a turnkey solution which builds on SQL Server 2014 availability in Windows Azure virtual machines. Users can get SQL Server up and running in a Windows Azure virtual machines in a matter of minutes, complete with in-memory and mission critical features.
“There has never been a more exciting time in the database and broader data platform industry,” concluded Clark. “In an era where nearly everything will become digitised, today we’re delivering the data platform that will help our customers digitise their business.”
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