The latest blog entry comes all the way from Computerworld UK. It talks about how Microsoft unveiled details of its 2 year Road Map for SQL Server.

Ovum: Microsoft unveils 'brave and bold' BI strategy

SQL Server Roadmap to be delivered over next two years

By Jack Loo, MIS Asia

Microsoft has unveiled details of its SQL Server roadmap that it aims to deliver over two years. Dubbed a "brave and bold move" by research firm Ovum, the software giant has been open about its upcoming offering compared to other cautious competitors.

Central to the next release of SQL Server 2008 are three project components each relating to different functions. The first, code-named Kilimanjaro, will introduce self-service reporting capabilities. The second, Project Gemini, offers new managed self-service analysis capabilities, while the last, codenamed Madison, provides advanced data warehousing functionality.

Kilimanjaro will include a new version of Report Builder, first introduced within SQL Server 2005, which helps simplify the development, deployment and maintenance of reports, and supports data delivery into Microsoft Word and Excel.

Project Gemini itself constitutes a number of different client and server business intelligence components. It has three main elements: an update to the Analysis Services engine; an Excel add-in client component for in-memory, on-the-fly sorting, filtering and slicing & dicing of large data sets; and deeper integration with Sharepoint.

"Project Gemini is clearly targeted at the power users that require the familiarity of Excel but with the scale and power of a heavy-duty multidimensional tool -- SQL Server Analysis Services," pointed out Helena Schwenk, Senior Analyst at Ovum.

The Excel add-in component plays a central part in Microsoft's 'bring business intelligence to the masses' strategy, said Schwenk. The new function has been designed to overcome some of the technical limits to crunching data within Excel and allows users to download millions of rows of data from disparate sources and present and compare data within its interface.

The add-in component also alleviates the need for users to understand and become proficient with the design, build and population of a multidimensional structure. "It can, for instance, automatically infer relationships between data sets brought into the spreadsheet and join using Analysis Services behind the scenes," said Schwenk.

Furthermore users can model, build and test their own BI applications without impacting on live BI systems. If users want to share the multidimensional model, Gemini integrates with SharePoint for sharing, collaboration and management of the application, said Schwenk.

"However, Excel isn't the only client application Microsoft plans to leverage; users will be also able to access business intelligence data from Microsoft's Dynamics 2009," she added.

To read the entire article......

Ovum: Microsoft unveils 'brave and bold' BI strategy

This article does a really good job of laying out what to expect for the next 2 years. Its very clear that Microsoft is bringing data warehousing to the masses. Its a great story. One vendor, one platform, great price points and it works. 

Posted by Michael Corey, Founder & CEO

www.ntirety.com

A number of annoucements have come over the wire today. They all talk about Microsoft SQL Server add-on code-named Kilimanjaro that is due to be released in 2010. Annoucement after annoucement kept coming out. I was planning on ignoring it. I thought to myself, SQL Server 2008 just came out this year. Why are we hearing about Kilimanjaoro. It reminded me of when IBM would launch a press release on a fututre product and the world would stop and wait till the IBM version came out.

Then it struck me yes, I want to hear about  Microsoft SQL Server Kilimanjaoro now. With Databases growing 3-5 times there size every 3 years. I need to know Microsoft SQL Server will be able to handle  hundreds of terabytes or even a petabyte of data in the next few years. I need to know It will have that capabilty, becase every day I look at my SQL Server databases and they keep getting bigger and bigger. 

So with that in mind let me share with you the information week article. Since it talks about  Microsoft's first data warehouse appliance, code-named Madison. Given the Oracle Exadata annoucment its only fitting we talk about the Microsoft data warehouse appliance. 

Microsoft Reveals Plans For 'Kilimanjaro' SQL Server