October, 2012

WINNER UPDATE: Thanks to all who participated in our photo caption contest – way to bow-WOW us with your snappy captions!  However, a special two paws up goes to @forhakim for the winning caption:  Step back from the database, or I will byte...

PASS Summit 2012 is heading our way, and there is much to get excited about! Here is your chance to get a first-hand look at what PASS Summit is all about in this special series of guest posts from some of our industry experts and SQL Server MVPs. Louis...

With PASS Summit 2012 on the horizon, we here at Microsoft are getting amped for all the great things in store for the SQL Server community at this world-renowned conference! There are, in fact, so many things to get excited about that it’s difficult...

Several months ago at Strata Santa Clara , we announced how we were working closely with key partners in the Big Data ecosystem to ensure that their solutions run on Microsoft’s Hadoop-based solutions. This year, we’re excited to return in force to the...

Earlier this year we announced partnerships with key players in the Apache Hadoop community to ensure customers have all the necessary solutions to connect with, manage and analyze big data. Today we’re excited to provide an update on how we’re working...

Each day “passes”, and it’s closer and closer we get to PASS Summit 2012. To build anticipation for this most inspiring event, we have yet another guest blog post from Jason Strate, an esteemed member of our SQL Server MVP community, to fill you in on...

We just wrapped up a busy week at Strata-Hadoop World, one of the predominant Big Data conferences. Microsoft showed up in force, with the big news being our press announcement around the availability of public previews for Windows Azure HDInsight Service...

Big Data is generating a lot of interest, but the barriers to entry prevent a broader base of users from unlocking its potential. Get a sneak preview on Microsoft’s efforts to democratize Big Data: delivering insights through familiar tools like Excel...

For SQL Server professionals and enthusiasts alike, the place to be next month is PASS Summit 2012 . It all happens November 6 through 9 in Seattle, WA, where you will learn from top industry experts, network and connect with fellow SQL professionals...

We are happy to announce the availability of StockTrader 6, a new end-to-end reference application for Windows Azure and Windows Azure SQL Database . The sample application with full source code and Visual Studio solutions can be downloaded and installed...

In order to address the data warehouse needs of mid-market customers, we have been working in close collaboration with Dell to develop “turnkey” data warehouse appliances. We set up a model to leverage the premium data warehouse features of SQL Server...

Way to wow us with your tweets, SQL Server community! It was a tough call for us, but after checking out all the great responses to the Tweet for a Ticket to PASS Summit 2012 Challenge , we finally settled on a winner – congratulations to @GarethSwan...