SQL Server 2014 enables
customers to build mission-critical applications and Big Data solutions
using high-performance, in-memory technology across OLTP, data
warehousing, business intelligence and analytics workloads without
having to buy expensive add-ons or high-end appliances. SQL Server 2014
uses a common set of tools to deploy and manage databases both
on-premises and in the cloud, which makes it easier for customers to
take advantage of the cloud with existing skills.
Benefits
SQL
Server 2014 makes it easier and more cost effective to build
high-performance, mission-critical applications, enterprise ready Big
Data assets, and BI solutions that help employees make better decisions,
faster. These solutions have the flexibility of being deployed
on-premises, in the cloud or in a hybrid environment, and can be managed
through a common and familiar tool set.
Mission-critical performance
SQL
Server 2014 accelerates reliable, mission critical applications with a
new in-memory OLTP engine that can deliver on average 10x, and up to 30x
transactional performance gains. For Data Warehousing, the new
updatable in-memory columnstore can query 100x faster than legacy
solutions. SQL Server also delivers peace of mind as the most secure
database five years in a row. (National Institute of Standards and
Technology Comprehensive Vulnerability Database 4/17/2013, Market share
from IDC 2013)
Faster insights on any data
Get
to insights faster with a complete BI platform that speeds up how you
access, analyze, clean and shape both internal and external data. With
SQL Server 2014 and Power BI for Office 365, it is easy to connect every
user in an organization to the right data they need to make better
decisions, faster.
Platform for hybrid cloud
SQL
Server 2014 was designed to work in a hybrid environment that spans
on-premises and the cloud and has new tools that make it even easier to
build back-up and disaster recovery solutions with Microsoft Azure.
These tools provide an easy on-ramp to the cloud for on-premises SQL
Server databases, enabling customers to use their existing skills to
take advantage of Microsoft’s global datacenters.
Capabilities
Breakthrough, in-memory performance
With
SQL Server 2014, new in-memory capabilities for transaction processing
and enhancements for data warehousing complement our existing
technologies for data warehousing and analytics. Scale and transform
your business with, on average, a 10x performance gain for transaction
processing while still using existing hardware, and a greater-than 100x
performance gain for data warehousing.
Proven, predictable performance
SQL
Server consistently leads in TPC-E, TPC-H and real-world application
performance benchmarks. SQL Server is SAP-certified to run some of the
most demanding workloads. Get more predictable performance of
virtualized SQL Server instances with IO governance in Resource
Governor.
High availability and disaster recovery
Gain
greater uptime, faster failover, improved manageability, and better use
of hardware resources through AlwaysOn, a unified solution for high
availability. In SQL Server 2014, there are additional active
secondaries, new online operations and the ability to quickly setup a
secondary in Microsoft Azure.
Enterprise scalability across compute, networking, and storage
With
Windows Server, physical processing now scales up to 640 logical
processors, and virtual machines scale up to 64 logical processors. SQL
Server 2014 uses this scale, storage spaces and network virtualization
to maximize overall infrastructure utilization. It can also run on
Windows Server Core to lower the surface area of attack.
Security and compliance
Help
secure data with transparent data encryption, robust auditing,
extensible key management and encrypted backups. It is even easier to
manage permissions for data access to support separation of duties
across various users.
Consistent data platform on-premises to cloud
Leverage
existing skills and familiar tools across Microsoft’s data platform
with SQL Server in a Microsoft Azure virtual machine when migrating
existing on-premises apps into the cloud, and Microsoft Azure SQL
Database for new modern applications that fully utilize the scale of the
cloud.
Corporate business intelligence
Scale
your BI models, enrich and help secure your data, and ensure quality
and accuracy with a complete BI solution. Build comprehensive,
enterprise-scale analytic solutions with Analysis Services and simplify
BI model deployment with the BI Semantic Model.
Faster insights for all users in familiar tools like Excel and data access via mobile devices
Accelerate
time-to-insight, on-premises and in the cloud with SQL 2014 and Power
BI for Office 365. Get richer visualizations using Power Map and Power
View. Search, access, and shape internal, external, structured, and
unstructured data with Power Query. Access insights from anywhere using
Power BI for Office 365.
Scalable data warehousing
Scale
to petabytes for relational data warehousing and integrate with
non-relational sources like Hadoop. Support your smallest to your
largest data storage needs while handling queries up to 100x faster than
your legacy data platform through massive parallel processing and
in-memory technologies with SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse.
Data quality and integration services
Integration
services includes rich support for extract, transact and load (ETL)
tasks, and the ability to run and manage as a separate SQL Server
instance. Improve data quality by using organizational knowledge and
third-party data providers to cleanse data through Data Quality
Services.
Easy-to-use management tools
SQL
Server Management Studio helps you centrally manage your database
infrastructure both on-premises and in the cloud. Added support for
Windows PowerShell 2.0 automates management tasks and enhancements to
Sys Prep let you more efficiently create virtual machines. Simplify
application testing on a single database using Distributed Replay.
Robust development tools
SQL
Server Data Tools integrate into Visual Studio and are available for
download to build next-generation web, enterprise, business intelligence
and mobile applications across on-premises and cloud. Customers can use
industry standard APIs (ADO.NET, ODBC, JDBC, PDO, and ADO) across
varied platforms including .NET, C/C++, Java, Linux, and PHP.