Microsoft enters enterprise database market with SQL Server

Software giant, Microsoft has entered the enterprise database market with the launch of its SQL Server. Microsoft will compete with the likes of IBM, Oracle, and Sybase in the segment.

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server and it will be available in various editions with each offering its own features.

The company will offer SQL Server Compact Edition (SQL CE), Datacenter Edition, Developer Edition, SQL Server 2005 Embedded Edition (SSEE), Enterprise Edition, Evaluation Edition, SQL Server Express Edition, Fast Track, Standard Edition, Web Edition and Workgroup Edition to cater to different users.

The SQL Server is useful in large e-commerce applications along with for most projects programmed using .NET. These servers offer stability and can manage large applications with a small 1MB space for running huge data warehouses

The servers are open source offering platform flexibility and enable developers to customize it for customers. It is also useful for configuring a MySQL database server for large applications.

The server has a very limited downtime even while on large scale IT projects. It also offers atomic, consistent, isolated, durable ACID transaction support, multi-version transaction support, and unlimited row-level locking. Large web pages a use SQL server as it offers fast data insertion functionality and a high-performance query engine.

The SQL Server further supports SSH (Secure Shell) and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) for making connections safer. The developers can use the server for most applications including ANSI-standard SQL, triggers, functions, plug-in libraries and drivers.