ICYMI: Data platform momentum
The last couple months have seen the addition of several new products that extend Microsoft’s data platform offerings.
At the end of January, Quentin Clark outlined his vision for the complete data platform, exploring the various inputs that are driving new application patterns, new considerations for handling data of all shapes and sizes, and ultimately changing the way we can reveal business insights from data.
In February, we announced the general availability of Power BI for Office 365, and you heard from Kamal Hathi about how this exciting release simplifies business intelligence and how features like Power BI sites and Power BI Q&A, Power BI helps anyone, not just experts, gain value from their data. You also heard from Quentin Clark about how Power BI helps make big data work for everyone by bringing together easy access to data, robust tools that everyone can use, and a complete data platform.
In March, we announced that SQL Server 2014 would be general available beginning April 1, and shared how companies are already taking advantage of in-memory capabilities and hybrid cloud scenarios that SQL Server enables. Shawn Bice explored the platform continuum, and how with this latest release, developers can continue to use SQL Server on-premises while also dipping their toes into the possibilities with the cloud using Microsoft Azure. Additionally, Microsoft Azure HDInsight was made generally available to support Hadoop 2.2, making it easy to deploy Hadoop in the cloud.
And earlier this month at the Accelerate your insights event in San Francisco, CEO Satya Nadella discussed Microsoft’s drive towards a data culture. In addition, we announced two other key capabilities to extend the robustness of our data platform: the Analytics Platform System, an evolution of the Parallel Data Warehouse with the addition of a Hadoop region for your unstructured data, and then a preview of the Microsoft Azure Intelligent Systems Service to help tap into the Internet of Your Things.
On top of our own announcements, we’ve been recently honored to be recognized by Gartner as a Leader in the 2014 Magic Quadrants for Data Warehouse Database Management Systems and Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms. And SQL Server 2014, in partnership with Hewlett Packard, set two world records for data warehousing performance and price/performance.
With these enhancements across the entire Microsoft data platform, there is no better time than now to dig in. Learn more about our data platform offerings. Brush up on your technical skills for free on the Microsoft Virtual Academy. Connect with other SQL Server experts through the PASS community. Hear from Microsoft’s engineering leaders about Microsoft’s approach to developing the latest offerings. Read about the architecture of data-intensive applications in the cloud computing world from Mark Souza, which one commenter noted was a “great example for the future of application design/architecture in the Cloud and proof that the toolbox of the future for Application and Database Developers/DBAs is going to be bigger than the On-Prem one of the past.” And finally, come chat in-person – we’ll be hanging out at the upcoming PASS Business Analytics and TechEd events and are eager to hear more about your data opportunities, challenges, and of course, successes. You can watch the keynotes on-demand.
What can your data do for you?