Server and Tools Business News Bytes blog : Application Platform

PowerPivot downloads for Excel and SharePoint now available

grantkd — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:49:00 GMT

Last week, we announced the availability of the SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP on the Data Platform Insider blog. Today we are excited to share that the SQL Server 2008 R2 PowerPivot downloads for Microsoft Excel 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 are now available! To download PowerPivot for Excel and SharePoint, please go here:

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2Downloads.aspx

PowerPivot for Excel delivers unmatched computational power directly within the application they know and love—Excel. Leveraging familiar Excel features, users can transform enormous quantities of data from virtually any source with incredible speed into meaningful information. Combined with PowerPivot for SharePoint, users can also securely share their findings seamlessly in the browser through Excel Services. For more information, please visit the Data Platform Insider Blog here.

For additional resources, visit www.powerpivot.com and please let us know what you think: connect with the SQL Server 2008 R2 Development Team and provide feedback on the November CTP.

Microsoft Positioned in the Leaders Quadrant of Latest Magic Quadrants for Application Infrastructure

grantkd — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:30:00 GMT

Microsoft has been positioned in the Leaders Quadrant of all three Gartner Application Infrastructure Magic Quadrants. The Magic Quadrant for Application Infrastructure for SOA Composite Application Projects , Magic Quadrant for Application Infrastructure for New Systematic SOA Application Projects, and the Magic Quadrant for Application Infrastructure for Back-End Application Integration Projects.

In Microsoft’s opinion, placement in the Leaders Quadrant validates that Microsoft is delivering a leading edge platform for service orientation and integration. According to the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Application Infrastructure for Back-End Integration Projects, “Leaders are vendors with a proven and comprehensive integrated product set, as well as a sizeable installed base of reasonably satisfied clients that extends internationally. They have an ample installed base of products to cross-sell their integration solutions to, and have demonstrated their ability to anticipate technology and market trends over the years by extending their offerings with composite, application-enabling technology. Leaders manifest their understanding of the problem space by providing innovative features, and by extending their integration technology to support initiatives, such as SOA and BPM.” The Magic Quadrant, an esteemed evaluative model established by Gartner, positions vendors according to their ability to execute and completeness of vision across current and future technologies.

For more information on today’s news, please click here for details on the press release, and here to read more on Steven Martin’s blog.

The Gartner Magic Quadrants are copyrighted 2008 by Gartner, Inc., and are reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the “Leaders” quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
The Magic Quadrant graphic was published by Gartner, Inc., as part of a larger research note and should be evaluated in the context of the entire report. The Gartner report is available upon request from Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Is the Value Leader According to Latest Benchmarks

grantkd — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:50:00 GMT

New TPC-E performance benchmark results from the Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC) rank Microsoft SQL Server 2008 No. 1 for price/performance on industry-leading hardware using Intel Corporation’s new Dunnington x64 processor, and on another TPC-E release, SQL Server 2008 is No. 1 for performance using the new IBM System x3950 M2 server. In China, OEM partner Inspur Group published the first Microsoft SQL Server TPC-E results in non-U.S. dollar currency. These results show further evidence that Microsoft SQL Server 2008 remains a global value leader in the data platform space and is a top choice of customers who require high performance from their enterprise-class data management systems.

For more information, please read the article on PressPass.

Microsoft Focuses on Bringing Modeling Mainstream, Improves IT Delivery of Business Strategies

grantkd — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:17:00 GMT

Today in this video, Bob Muglia re-affirmed Microsoft’s commitment to modeling and discussed how modeling relates to Dynamic IT, how Microsoft plans to make the technology mainstream and why modeling is important

Video: Microsoft Modeling

Modeling is a core pillar of Dynamic IT, which focuses on helping customers improve organizational agility and optimize how systems and people work together.

Accompanying this vision-focused announcement, Microsoft will also issue a press release highlighting it has joined the Object Management Group (OMG) to promote greater interoperability and advance the state of modeling in the application development industry.

This announcement points to Microsoft’s commitment to make modeling mainstream and interoperable across platforms. Customers will benefit from a fully integrated approach to modeling – one that spans the full breadth of the Microsoft platform, incorporates industry best-of-breed standards and applications, and streamlines collaboration among all key participants in the application lifecycle.

For more information on modeling, please visit the press release.

TechEd 2008 Developers: News from the frontlines

grantkd — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:30:00 GMT

Today, at Tech Ed 2008 Developers in Orlando, FL Bill Gates delivered a keynote address in which he reflected on the company’s 33-year history with developers and shared his predictions for the future of application development. He also made several product-related announcements that build on Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5, and demonstrate how the company’s integrated toolset and platform help developers build rich, interactive applications from the Web to the desktop, work in heterogeneous environments and much more. The announcements include the following:

· Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) beta 2 will be available this August in 20 languages worldwide.

· Availability this week of Silverlight 2 beta 2, with a commercial Go Live license

· IBM and Microsoft have agreed to work together to integrate IBM DB2 database access with Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition.

· Multiple partner wins and the latest community technology preview (CTP) of the Microsoft Sync Framework.

· The first CTP of the Microsoft project code-named “Velocity,” a distributed, in-memory application cache platform.

· Ongoing momentum for Microsoft code-name “Oslo.”

· A new version of Visual Studio 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 v1.2.

To read the press release, view the full Bill Gates keynote, and get more information about the event, visit the Tech Ed 2008 Virtual Press Room at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/teched/default.mspx

More information on today’s announcements can be found on these blogs:

S. Somasegar, Senior Vice President, Developer Division, Microsoft: http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/

Scott Guthrie, Corporate Vice President, Developer Division, Microsoft: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/

The Data Platform Insider: http://blogs.technet.com/dataplatforminsider/

Steven Martin, Director of Product Management, Connected Systems Division: http://blogs.msdn.com/stevemar/default.aspx

Visit TechEd Online for more on the 2008 Developers Conference.

Microsoft positioned in Leaders Quadrant of Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Application Servers 2008

Brittany M. — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:50:00 GMT

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Application Servers, 2Q08 (Gartner, April 24, 2008) Foundational EAS technology is evolving to meet the challenges of constant innovation in business software. Gartner positions Microsoft in Leaders Quadrant in the 2008 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Application Servers.

For more information visit, http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/itanalyst/default.mspx

Microsoft positioned in Challengers Quadrant of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Software Change and Configuration Management for Distributed Platforms, 2008

Brittany M. — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:00:00 GMT

Microsoft has been positioned in the Challengers Quadrant of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Software Change and Configuration Management for Distributed Platforms, 2008.

Microsoft’s Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server is an integrated collaboration server for Visual Studio Team System. It combines team portal, version control, work item tracking, build management, process guidance, and business intelligence into a unified server. It allows everyone on the team to collaborate more effectively and deliver better quality software.

To learn more please read the full Gartner report here: www.microsoft.com/presspass/itanalyst/default.mspx

For more information on Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server, visit: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en‐us/tfs2008/default.aspx

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted December 2007 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the “Leaders” quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Scott Guthrie: Changes to .NET Framework Reference License

Brittany M. — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:00:00 GMT

On January 16, 2008, Scott Guthrie, General Manager within the Microsoft Developer Division, announced on his blog that the .NET Framework Reference Source will be updated from the standard Microsoft Reference License to the .NET Framework Reference License. This change was based on community feedback about potential impacts of viewing the source with non-Windows operating systems. The .NET Reference Source License working on products similar to the .NET Framework for non-Windows operating systems.

For more information, visit Scott's blog: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/01/16/net-framework-library-source-code-now-available.aspx

ADO.NET Entity Framework Beta 3 and ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview

Brittany M. — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT

Today Microsoft announced the release of Beta 3 of the ADO.NET Entity Framework, and a preview of ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions. Designed to make it even easier for developers to build data-centric applications and services regardless of the underlying data source, the ADO.NET Entity Framework is already gaining significant support from multiple database vendors and third-party providers, including Core Lab, Data Direct Technologies, Firebird, IBM, MySQL AB, Npgsql, OpenLink Software, Phoenix Software, Sybase and VistaDB. For more information about the ADO.NET Entity Framework Beta 3, take a look at Guggs’ Crossbar.

Microsoft also announced today an upcoming preview of ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions, which leverages the Entity Framework to make it easier for developers to build rich, interactive data-centric applications on the Web. The ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview includes:

ADO.NET Entity Framework
ASP.NET MVC
ADO.NET Data Services
ASP.NET Dynamic
New additions to ASP.NET AJAX
Silverlight controls for ASP.NET

New Partners Announced in the Microsoft Business Process Alliance

Brittany M. — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:00:00 GMT

Today, at the Gartner AADI, Microsoft announced the addition of ILOG and SOA Software to the Microsoft Business Process Alliance (BPA), which now features 12 of the industry’s top players in the Business Process Management (BPM) space. Members of the BPA include IDS Scheer, Fair Isaac, Global 360, Metastorm, Ascentn, SourceCode Technology Holding Inc., AmberPoint, InRule, PNMsoft, RuleBurst, ILOG, and SOA Software.

The BPA was formed in February of 2007 to break down BPM deployment barriers, such as high cost, complexity and application connectivity challenges by offering pre-integrated technology solutions that take BPM mainstream. The BPA delivers end-to-end solutions running on Microsoft Platform that enable simpler, more cost effective BPM options for organizations of all sizes.

For additional information on Microsoft’s BPM strategy and technologies, visit http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/feb07/02-26MSBPAPR.mspx, http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/solutions/bpm/default.mspx, or http://www.microsoft.com/soa/.

For the press release visit SOA Software and ILOG.

Developer News from TechEd

Brittany M. — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:00:00 GMT

Today at TechEd Developers in Barcelona, Spain, S. “Soma” Somasegar, Corporate Vice President in Microsoft’s Developer Division, announced Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 will be released by the end of November 2007. Soma also unveiled a number of resources for developers enabling them to make the most of out of their Microsoft tools investments including:

· Changes to the Visual Studio 2008 licensing terms which will provide better support for interoperability with other developer tools and cross-platform scenarios, no longer limiting partners to building solutions on top of Visual Studio for Windows and other Microsoft platforms only.

· A shared source licensing program for Premier-level partners in the Visual Studio Industry Partner program which will enable partners to view Visual Studio IDE source code for debugging purposes, and simplify the process of integrating their products with Visual Studio 2008.

· The release of the first Sync Framework CTP which will empower developers to create solutions that enable peer-to-peer collaboration and online/offline synchronization. Microsoft’s ongoing investment in synchronization builds on the synchronization functionality available in Visual Studio 20008 so that developers can easily synchronize information using any protocol, any data type, and any data store.

· The availability of Popfly Explorer which adds integration into Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Web Developer Express 2008 and provides users an easy way to add Silverlight gadgets built in Popfly to their Web pages, as well as publish HTML Web pages directly to Popfly.

These latest releases are part of the broader Microsoft Application Platform, a portfolio of technology capabilities and core products that help organizations develop, deploy and manage applications and IT infrastructure. They also mark another major milestone leading up to the global launch of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 on February 27, 2007 in Los Angeles, Calif.

For more information on today’s announcements please visit the TechEd Developers virtual press room at: http://www.microsoft.com/emea/presscentre/teched07/default.mspx. Videocast interviews from the event are available here: http://www.mseventseurope.com/teched/07/developers/news.

Microsoft Unveils Vision and Road Map to Simplify SOA, Bridge Software Plus Services and Take Composite Applications Mainstream

Brittany M. — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:30:00 GMT

On Tuesday, October 30^th, at the fifth annual Microsoft SOA & Business Process Conference, Microsoft shared its vision and road map to simplify the effort required to design, build, deploy and manage composite applications within and across organizations. Microsoft announced “Oslo,” the code name for the set of technical investments that help customers realize this vision.

This multiyear, multiproduct effort utilizes the company’s top engineering talent to build on the model-driven and service-enabled principles of Microsoft Dynamic IT and extend the benefits of service-oriented architecture (SOA) beyond the firewall. The “Oslo” technology innovations further Microsoft software-plus-services efforts by providing extensions to the application platform to help developers bridge between on-premise and off-premise projects. As part of a technical road map, Microsoft made available new tools and guidance to help organizations take advantage of “real-world SOA” today, including new SOA resources from Microsoft and a host of industry partners.

Full press release is available online here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/oct07/10-30OsloPR.mspx

Steve Guggenheimer launches Application Platform blog

grantkd — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:12:00 GMT

Last week marked the launch of the Application Platform blog hosted by Steve Guggenheimer. The blog, called Crossbar, is a forum for Steve and guest bloggers to increase awareness for the Application Platform and the actions customers/partners should take to achieve optimization. Steve will blog on hot industry topics such as S+S and SOA, talk about conversations he had with customers around the world, break news, and invite others in and outside of his organization to weigh in on topics. http://blogs.msdn.com/stevengu/

EPC Connection 2007 and RFID

grantkd — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:56:00 GMT

On October 2nd in Chicago, Kevin Turner keynoted EPC Connection 2007, one of the largest Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) events. Kevin’s roles as COO of Microsoft and formerly as CIO of Wal-Mart Stores have given him a unique perspective on the business impact of RFID and how it can transform organizations. His keynote highlighted why the right time for RFID is now and how users can unleash its potential with new solutions that leverage physical data to drive real-time competitive advantage. Additionally, Microsoft participated in a Q & A session with HP, Intel and customer Blue C Sushi, in which HP announced the HP Connector Solution for use with SAP® applications and Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2.