Server and Tools Business News Bytes blog : SQL Server 2008 R2

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.

Project “Gemini” Name Revealed

mdingle — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:29:00 GMT

At the Microsoft SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas today, Microsoft announced the official name of Project “Gemini,” now Microsoft SQL Server PowerPivot for Excel. PowerPivot for Excel helps drive timely and informed business decisions by empowering end users to access, integrate and analyze massive amounts of data on the desktop and share information using the familiar Microsoft Excel tools.

In addition, PowerPivot provides IT departments the ability to monitor and manage user generated solutions by integrating seamlessly with Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. With PowerPivot for Excel, users and IT departments can:

· Integrate massive amounts of data on the desktop from virtually any source

· Perform lightning-fast calculations and analysis on large data volumes

· Share and collaborate on user generated analysis through integration with SharePoint

· Monitor and manage user generated applications

With powerful analysis capabilities delivered through agile and familiar tools like Excel and SharePoint, organizations can expect faster end-user adoption, lower training time and reduced costs. For more information on PowerPivot for Excel, visit http://www.powerpivot.com.

Tech•Ed: Microsoft Delivers New Wave of Technologies to Help Businesses Thrive in Today’s Economy

mdingle — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Microsoft Tech•Ed North America 2009 kicked off today with announcements of new technologies that enable IT professionals and developers to help their organizations save money and improve efficiencies during difficult economic times. As part of today’s news, Microsoft Corp. announced that the company is anticipating that the next version of its client operating system, Windows 7, will be available to customers in time for the holiday shopping season. In addition, Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate (RC) is available today with the final product releasing to market in the same timeframe as Windows 7.

The company also announced that SQL Server 2008 R2 (formerly SQL Server ‘Kilimanjaro’) will release the first Community Technology Preview (CTP) in the second half of 2009 and on track to ship SQL Server 2008 R2 in the first half of calendar year 2010, which will include new feature Master Data Services (MDS).

Please visit the Global Tech•Ed Virtual Press Room to view the full press release, as well as the keynote live at 10am PDT/1pm EDT and for a post keynote Q&A session that will be starting at 12:30pm PDT/3:30 EDT as well.