http://blogs.technet.com/b/port25/archive/2011/12/12/sql-database-federations-enhancing-sql-to-enable-data-sharding-for-scalability-in-the-cloud.aspxI am thrilled to announce the availability of a new specification called SQL Database Federations , which describes additional SQL capabilities that enable data sharding (horizontal partitioning of data) for scalability in the cloud. The specificationen-USTelligent Evolution Platform Developer Build (Build: 5.6.50428.7875)