The Application Platform @ Rohan Thomas' Blog

SQL Server Vs. The Database Market (Research Data)

So a lot of my customers and partners have been asking me about numbers around SQL Server, so I thought of getting this quick blog post up to show you an aggregate view of some of those articles – Thanks to Mark and Sunny for helping me out with it.

1. Gartner Research - Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms

This is a timely research from Gartner – with all the BI interest around SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 among our customers and partner, this research re-emphasizes the confidence that our customers and partners have on SQL Server

2. Forrester Research - SQL Server 2008 Ups Pressure On Competitors; Microsoft Boosts Manageability, BI, Performance, Productivity, and Security
For the majority of mission-critical applications today, SQL Server 2008 already has the strongest combination of price/performance, manageability, security, and DBA productivity. The latest version of SQL Server from Microsoft SQL Server 2008 offers hundreds of new DBMS features that boost the productivity of database administrators (DBAs) and developers, improve support for larger databases, and enhance security.

3. Forrester Research - The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Database Management Systems, Q2 2009
This Forrester Wave assesses more than a dozen firms based primarily on their enterprise open source and closed source database management systems. Forrester named Microsoft a ‘leader’ in the DBMS Wave and states that Microsoft is “The most aggressive DBMS vendor with a strong road map.” In this Wave, Forrester categorizes Leaders as offering “broad set of functionality to support any critical transactional application.”

4. Forrester Research - New Independent Study Finds 162% Risk-Adjusted ROI for SQL Server 2008 Deployment in Total Economic Impact™ of SQL Server 2008 Upgrade study.

5. IDC - SQL Server is the fastest growing Database and Business Intelligence vendor.

6. IDC - SQL Server ships more units than Oracle and IBM combined.

7. Gartner Research - Magic Quadrant for Data Warehouse Database Management Systems

Lastly, this is a good place if you are looking for more news and reports!

Enjoy

-Rohan

Connect and collaborate with other partners and Microsoft

I’m sure you guys are already aware of the Microsoft Partner Network and now I’d like to introduce you to the new Microsoft Partner Network Community which is designed to facilitate real-time networking opportunities between people selling or building Microsoft solutions, Microsoft partners and Microsoft.

The community offers a number of ways for you to engage with your peers and Microsoft globally or directly within Malaysia. You can:

1. See what’s happening in Malaysia, attend partner events and engage in social media with people in your community.

2. Get involved in Microsoft communities focused on student talent for hire, public policy affecting the technology industry, technology training and education and much more.

3. Join the conversation with Microsoft and other partners through online social media like twitter, facebook and Microsoft and partner blogs.

4. Keep up to date with the latest partner relevant news, webcasts and videos, and find product specific information and training within the broader Microsoft partner network.

So if you are looking for partner network community resources that would help you start the conversation with other partners and Microsoft.

· Join the community twitter feed and the partner network facebook page

· Watch short video series on SMB, Windows 7, and Azure.

Take a sneak peek at what is being planned for the 2010 Worldwide Partner Conference

Enjoy

-Rohan

SQL Server 2008 R2 gets an official date

Finally we have a date! SQL Server 2008 R2 received an official release date. It will be listed on Microsoft’s May price list, and will be available by May 2010!!

Read more about it here

Cheers

-Rohan

Microsoft Innovation Day

Calling all CTOs, Software Architects, Software Developers and Technopreneurs!!!

Register here

See you there!

-Rohan

New HP and Microsoft Agreement to Simplify Technology Environments

Awesome step by Microsoft and HP!

HP and Microsoft Corp. today announced an agreement to invest $250 million over the next three years to significantly simplify technology environments for businesses of all sizes. This agreement represents the industry’s most comprehensive technology stack integration to date — from infrastructure to application — and is intended to substantially improve the customer experience for developing, deploying and managing IT environments

Looking for a learning map for your ICT career? Check this out!

Click for full view

Yours,

Rohan

Windows 7 is well worth the wait

Great article in The Star:

Enjoy

Yours,

Rohan

BizTalk Server 2009 Click-Through Demo Available!

Awesome resource!!

We have published the new BizTalk Server 2009 click-through demo. The demo, highlights BizTalk's SharePoint and WF integration and is based on PO and Invoice Processing scenarios.

Check it out today!

Yours,

Rohan

SQL Server compared to Oracle

Another awesome resource on SQL Server in comparison to Oracle

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 provides a data platform with many advantages and business benefits including better security, performance and scalability, developer productivity, and Business Intelligence tools (BI) – all at a lower total cost of ownership. To learn more, check this out

Enjoy,

-Rohan

SQL Server 2008 Manageability

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 provides a policy-based system for managing one or more instances of SQL Server along with tools for performance monitoring, troubleshooting, and tuning that enable administrators to more efficiently manage their databases and SQL Server instances.

This functionality helps streamline tasks related to ensuring security and compliance, deploying patch upgrades, and resource utilization.

Top New Features

• Use Performance Data Collection to troubleshoot, tune and monitor SQL Server 2008 instances across the enterprise

• Define configuration policies for your enterprise by using Policy-Based Management

• Use built-in framework facets and policies to manage surface area configuration and apply best practices

Find out more here

Cheers,

-Rohan

Discover SQL Server 2008 through a variety of solution and technology-focused white papers

Great resource of SQL Server 2008 white papers on a ton of topics including:

Enjoy,

-Rohan

SQLServerPedia – Your community knowledge base for SQL Server

An awesome site by Editors at SQLServerPedia.

Good job guys!

Enjoy the SQLServerPedia,

-Rohan

SQL Server 2008 Value Calculator (ROI Calculator)

Yes, you have data management options!

Considering a better data management solution? Consider SQL Server 2008 Enterprise to efficiently manage your business-critical applications.

Do the math on SQL Server value and you’ll see the efficiencies add up.

This tool allows you to input your Bandwidth needs, Sever purchases, etc and then let you do the math!

Check it out today!

You can also download an offsite excel version from the page too…

Enjoy,

-Rohan

Top Ten TPC-H by Price/Performance

Saw this study by Transactions Processing Performance Council (TPC)

Some very interesting observations:

In 100GB, SQL Server is in the top 10 best performing, least expensive results.

In 300GB, SQL Server is in the top 10 best performing, least expensive results.

Check it out here!

Yours,

Rohan

Windows Cache Extension for PHP

Are you running/wanting to run your PHP app on IIS? Then check this out!

Windows Cache Extension for PHP is a PHP accelerator that is used to increase the speed of PHP applications running on Windows and Windows Server. Once the Windows Cache Extension for PHP is enabled and loaded by the PHP engine, PHP applications can take advantage of the functionality without any code modifications.

And what’s even better – you don’t have to configure it or start tweaking your code, it comes in Web P.I

So head over to www.microsoft.com/web and download it today!

Enjoy :-)

Yours,

Rohan