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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Do you use SQL Server 2012? What features do you like? What could be improved? Would you recommend it to others? Let everyone know what you think on our new Customer Reviews page. This page is meant to be a place for informal peer-to-peer conversation...

In spite of the old adage about “keeping a banker’s hours,” the reality of today’s digital world demands that financial services institutions are available 24/7. For the IT department, this means building systems that ensure high availability and always...

In late July, we released SQL Server 2012 SP1 CTP3, the first public Community Technology Preview (CTP) for SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1, which contained compatibility features for SQL Server 2012 to support self-service BI capabilities in Office and...

If you have ever gone online to bid on a collectible item for sale, there’s a good chance you were using Heritage Auctions to bid on that item. Heritage Auctions is the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer and third largest auction house in the world...

Blog Author : Charles Levine, Principal Program Manager, SQL Server Performance Engineering Maximizing SQL Server’s performance and scalability is a complex engineering challenge. Beyond good architecture and well-designed code, we also extensively...

It has been a fun ride for the Microsoft Reality show “Be the Next Microsoft Employee,” and it’s hard to believe that the final challenge is here and the show concluded today! As you no doubt have been following the show, you can recall...

Guest Blog Post by : Denny Cherry, MVP and Independent Consultant ( www.mrdenny.com | blog.mrdenny.com ) The SQL PASS Summit, being held in Seattle Washington this year, is the premier conference for SQL Server professionals.  Attending the SQL PASS...

Happy Friday! We have a great opportunity for the SQL Server Community from Microsoft Press. Save 50% off Itzek Ben-Gan’s T-SQL Fundamentals or Leonard Lobel and Andrew Brust’s Programming SQL Server 2012 or many other selected SQL Server 2012 EBooks...

This week’s Be the Next Microsoft Employee focused on the pitfalls many SQL professionals face when they try and balance technical issues with the business side of the equation. Didn’t catch the latest episode? Head to the show page and see...

If you’ve been watching Be the Next Microsoft Employee along with us, you probably know about the real-world filter on the competition’s challenges – a metric that ensures that competitors are solving the same issues that companies face. And, just like...

Guest Blog Authors: Buck Woody , Senior Technical Professional, Windows Azure and Cloud Computing at Microsoft, http://buckwoody.com/   boB Taylor , Principal Content Publishing Manager MCSM at Microsoft, boB ‘The Tool Man’ Taylor Blog When we put...

As part of our commitment to delivering and supporting high-quality software to our customers, Microsoft is pleased to announce SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2. Customers with existing investments on SQL Server 2008 R2 are encouraged to explore Service Pack 2...

If you haven’t already heard, the Microsoft reality show Be the Next Microsoft Employee kicks off today! We think it’s going to be a great show, but if you don’t believe us, just ask Thomas LaRock , who says the show is “a cross between the first season...

The team here at Microsoft designed SQL Server 2012 to be chock-full of technologies that deliver a major leap forward in performance and include a suite of tools that help make performance more consistent and predictable. Thanks to these major enhancements...

Every year at Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference , Microsoft announces its Partner of the Year Awards. These awards represent the best the Microsoft’s partners have to offer across several Microsoft product categories, geographies and business units...

The world of data is changing with businesses facing an explosion in information volumes and the need to mine different data sources and data types. More than ever, organizations must collect and make use of this volume of data to analyze overall business...