Today Microsoft announced that Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2 and Visual Studio 2010 will be last releases of our products with support for Intel Itanium Processors.

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2010/04/02/windows-server-2008-r2-to-phase-out-itanium.aspx

Support  for shipped products continue as per the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy

SQL Server 2008 R2 is here! Get to know the new features and capabilities like Application and Multi-server Management, PowerPivot, Master Data Services, Report Builder 3.0, StreamInsight! Microsoft, Dell, MaximumASP and PASS provide a free hosted demo environment on http://www.previewsqlserver.com/ for you to test SQL Server 2008 R2 with several interesting labs.
The new opportunities with SQL Server 2008 R2 are also shown at our TechNet Techtalk at Wallisellen on the 27th of Mai at now cost (in German). Registration under: TechTalk- SQL Server 2008 R2 – Was ist neu.

I can also recommend our Reviewers Guide, which gives you insights about all the new features of SQL Server 2008 R2 on a technical level.

More on SQL Server 2008 R2 including Case Studies: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/tour/en/default.aspx
Download SQL Server 2008 R2 Trial and Express (up to 10GB DBs in Express now!): http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2Downloads.aspx

Downloads of the other editions in the TechNet or MSDN Portal will be available in early May…

- rb -