SQL Server 2005 will also be available as a re-branded SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, available for embedded database design around simple data driven applications. Express replaces Microsoft SQL Sever 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE).
An express edition follows database competitor IBM Corp’s DB2 Express, featuring simplified installation and administration, and targeted at Microsoft’s heartland business audience of Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs).
Microsoft detailed these, and other features, in the forthcoming database while yesterday announcing release of the second beta. SQL Server 2005 was due by the end of this year but was pushed into 2005 by Microsoft, because of the need for additional testing.
This is arguably Microsoft’s most ambitious SQL Server, featuring integration with Microsoft’s planned application development suite through a common framework. Developers inside Visual Studio 2005, also due in the first-half of 2005, will be able to program SQL Server procedures using C Sharp and .NET languages instead of the time-honored T-SQL.
Also promised, is integration with the planned Longhorn operating system, delayed until the first half of 2006. SQL Server 2005 is expected to provide the desktop operating storage mechanism, working as part of Longhorn’s WinFS subsystem.
Support for Opteron means SQL Server is capable of running on AMD’s 32-bit and 64-bit architecture. Microsoft said this provided customers with a compelling and cost-effective alternative to Unix running on proprietary hardware. Support for 64-bit could help position Microsoft to siphon-off customers abandoning Unix for Linux.
Earlier this year, Microsoft gave its official blessing to 64-bit Windows, after years of prevarication, at the WinHEC conference in Seattle, Washington. Chief software architect Bill Gates talked of an exciting industry transition to 64-bit, while the company highlighted Windows XP 64-bit edition, due later this year.
Elsewhere, SQL Server’s Enterprise Manager, Query Analyzer and Analysis Managed will be merged with new SQL Server Reporting Services, Notification Services, XML and SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition to create SQL Server Management Studio.
Data mining is improved with neural network algorithm text mining, query enhancements and reporting services integration. Microsoft said the changes would help tackle complicated analytical problems containing nonlinear relationships and unstructured data.
