Microsoft Ships SQL Server 2005 SP2

On Monday, Microsoft announced release of SQL Server 2005, Service Pack 2, for which a Community Technology Preview has been available since last November. Features provided by this release include several security upgrades, data compression, and the ability to access information in non-Microsoft databases (including Oracle).

Also prominent is support for new add-ins provided for Excel and Visio 2007, permitting users to access SQL Server databases via SQL Server Analysis Services for easy data-mining. I saw this stuff demo'd at TechNet, last year, and it's pretty mind-blowing. SP2 also connects SQL Server Reporting Services with the Report Center feature of Office SharePoint Server.

Get the goodness here.

Posted by John Jainschigg at 03:22 PM  Permalink