SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP Download

Hoy Microsoft acaba de liberar un nuevo Community Technology Preview (November CTP) de SQL Server 2008 R2. Y lo mejor que está disponible para que cualquiera la pueda descargar. Lo pueden bajar desde aquí.

A continuación el email oficial del lanzamiento con los detalles de las novedades. Ya estaremos discutiendo muchas de ellas próximamente.

“The SQL Server Team is excited to announce the release of the SQL Server 2008 R2 November Community Technology Preview (CTP), available for download and installation on test systems today! This is the latest version of SQL Server, with an anticipated ship date in the first half of 2010.

Designed to help you reduce data management costs and increase efficiencies, SQL Server 2008 R2 provides an even more scalable data platform with comprehensive tools to help with managing databases and applications, improving the quality of your data, and empowering your users to build rich analyses and reports using familiar tools.

Download the November CTP and PowerPivot today!

The November CTP is “feature complete” so we encourage you to try out the new features in this CTP release which include:

- Support for Windows Server® 2008 R2, including Hyper-V with Live Migration
- Enhanced data compression with support for Unicode UCS-2
- PowerPivot for Microsoft® Excel 2010
- Report Builder 3.0 with Report Part Gallery and new visualizations (sparklines, databars)
- Master Data Services (MDS) with Master Data Hub and Stewardship Portal

Enhancements to the capabilities delivered in the August CTP:

- A Control Point Explorer in SQL Server Management Studio for central multi-instance and data-tier application management
- Dashboard viewpoints for quick insight into application and instance utilization
- StreamInsight for complex event processing
- SQL Server System Preparation (sysprep)
- Support for up to 256 logical processors

Introducing PowerPivot for Excel

PowerPivot for Excel (formerly known as Project “Gemini”), is a data analysis tool that delivers unmatched computational power directly within Microsoft Excel. Utilizing familiar Excel functions, you can manage and transform enormous quantities of data from virtually any source with incredible speed – enabling you to create, analyze and share meaningful business information and get the answers you need in seconds.

IT managers can use the new PowerPivot for SharePoint features (delivered through SQL Server 2008 R2 in concert with SharePoint 2010), to enable users to easily publish and securely share their Microsoft Excel BI workbooks – via a rich browser-based experience that offers performance and features just as you’d find in the native Excel environment. PowerPivot for SharePoint also gives IT departments a way to monitor operational efficiency of their reporting server through the PowerPivot Management Dashboard.”

Alan