Microsoft ships SQL Server 2008 R2

Master data management makes it into Redmond's flagship database

SQL Server 2008 R2

Software giant Microsoft released the R2 version of its flagship database SQL Server 2008 to manufacturing today.

Microsoft's senior vice president for its business platform division, Ted Kummert, said: "Our customers are dealing with ever-increasing volumes of data, and seeking to gain more business insight and value from that data."

Kummert said SQL Server 2008 would supply that insight through its " self-service business intelligence" feature.

Originally called Project Gemini, the technology allows business users to produce reports themselves using their own data, rather than have experts generate the reports directly from the SQL database.

Kummert said: "We're providing end users with tools allowing them to gain insight quickly from their data with our managed self-service business intelligence features."

However, those features will require businesses to upgrade to or buy Microsoft's business productivity suite, Office 2010. Specifically, the R2 plug-in, called "SQL Server PowerPivot for Excel", will require Excel 2010.

Businesses looking to collaborate and produce reports on their internal web portals using R2 will also need to have the latest version of Microsoft's business collaboration platform – SharePoint 2010.

Microsoft is also planning to move all the features intrinsic to SQL Server 2008 R2 deployments to its SQL Azure cloud service. "Although SQL Azure only runs a subset of those features currently, we're planning to move all of them there eventually," said Kummert.

Other new features in R2 include improved multi-server management using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) allowing database administrators to manage multiple instances of the SQL database.

A Master Data Services (MDS) feature has also been added providing a central portal for creating master data members and hierarchies to ensure data consistency.

Companies can also add maps and geospatial visualisations into reports generated by R2.