Microsoft has released the first evaluation build of SQL Server 2008 R2 Evaluation August CTP (quiet a handful isn’t it? Why not just call it SQL Server 2008 R2 Beta ?) to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Downloads are available in the form of Enterprise Edition ( x86, x64, ia64 ) and Express Edition ( x86, x64, x86 and x64 WoW ). Public access to the CTP will be available tomorrow.
Some of the new features in SQL Server 2008 R2 are:
- Application and Multi-server Management
- SMP scale up with support for up to 256 logical processors
- Report Builder 3.0 with support for geospatial visualization
To find out more about these features, check out the blog post by Microsoft’s Data Platform Insider Blog.
More CTPs will be released this month according to the blog:
In the coming weeks we’ll also launch CTPs for low latency complex event processing now called StreamInsight, the first CTP for SQL Azure Database, a limited preview of Project “Gemini” Excel and SharePoint add-ins and a private technology preview of Project Madison,Microsoft’s massively scalable data warehousing solution, with a select group of customers.
It’s been a busy year for Microsoft so far, in terms of new products, and looks like it’ll remain so. :)
The public CTP for SQL Server R2 will be available for download tomorrow ( August 12, 2009 ) here.
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