Microsoft also announced today that 12 customers, including Pennzoil and HarperCollins Publishers, barnesandnoble.com are in production with mission-critical applications for enterprise resource planning (ERP), data warehousing and electronic commerce. These application deployments represent the culmination of the most extensive and innovative quality assurance programme ever executed for an enterprise database software program, clearly demonstrating the solid reliability of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0.
"Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 is a major breakthrough for Microsoft database technology," said Steve Ballmer, president of Microsoft. "It`s the complete package, delivering the scalability, reliability and ease of use companies of all sizes are looking for to meet the needs of their business-critical applications."
Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 is the database for the Windows operating system-compatible that brings business advantage and improved decision-making to all levels of the organisation through the power of scalable business solutions, data warehousing and integration with Microsoft Office.
Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 offers major advancements in transaction performance, online backup and replication, as well as innovations in auto-tuning and auto-configuration, making it the ideal platform for business-critical applications. Satisfying unprecedented customer demand, more than 300 business applications representing all major horizontal and vertical markets are expected to be available for SQL Server 7.0 within 90 days of the product`s launch. "Microsoft SQL Server is one of the fastest-growing database platform for SAP R/3, and based on early customer feedback, we expect a dramatic increase in demand for the latest Microsoft database version," said Guenther Tolkmit, senior vice president of marketing, SAP AG. "Our customers are very satisfied with improvements in the scalability, reliability and ease of use of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0. In fact we have five customers running their productive R/3 systems on Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 today, and more than 100 SAP customers will begin to deploy Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 upon its release.""Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 is the easiest platform on which to design, build, manage and use data warehousing solutions, bringing information to all organisational levels in time to make critical business decisions. It is the first relational database management system (RDBMS) to come complete with integrated Data Transformation Services, OLAP Services and Microsoft Repository 2.0. In addition, the Microsoft Data Warehousing Alliance, a coalition of top data warehousing vendors supporting a common architectural framework, ensures that customers have access to a wide range of highly interoperable solutions from a variety of software companies," said Gordon Frazer, Applicatio Development Customer Unit manager at Microsoft South Africa.
With its tight integration with Microsoft Office 2000 and Microsoft Windows, Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 will offer ubiquitous access to data and increased productivity and ease of use, utilising an organisation`s skill set and investment in existing technology. For the first time, companies will be able to combine the familiarity and ease of use of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel with the scalability and reliability of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 to empower users with better information access.
With over 17 months of testing and more than 100 000 beta sites, Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 is the most broadly and thoroughly tested enterprise RDBMS ever released, which ensures that customers get rock-solid reliability for mission-critical applications. The quality assurance program is centered on customers and ISVs, as well as extensive reliability, compatibility and performance testing. Microsoft`s commitment to this testing is demonstrated through the Early Adopter Programme, ISV Migration Labs and the 1K Database Challenge, under which the company completed the migration of 1 000 customer production databases to Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 with a 98.5 percent hands-free conversion rate.
In operation since January this year, the ISV Migration Labs provide compatibility and performance testing to 150 ISVs representing the enterprise resource planning (ERP), accounting, customer management, document management, health-care, retail and data warehousing markets. Microsoft also supports full-time Redmond-based labs for SAP, PeopleSoft and Baan, which conduct extensive joint design, development and testing to ensure full compatibility and robustness with their ERP systems.
The Early Adopter Programme put 12 ERP, data warehousing and electronic commerce customers worldwide into production with applications built on Microsoft SQL Server 7.0. These customers include Pennzoil, HarperCollins, barnesandnoble.com, Southwest Securities, L.A. Cellular, CBS SportsLine, Elcor, Lyondell Chemical, Applied Automation Technique and Mothercare UK Ltd.
Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 is scheduled to be available worldwide in the reseller channel within the next 45 days. Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 is planned to be available in French, German, Spanish and Japanese within 60 days.
In anticipation of strong demand for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0, Microsoft has increased the number of engineers supporting Microsoft SQL Server by 70 percent. Product support is also available through Microsoft Authorised Support Centers (ASC). Support Online is located at http://support.microsoft.com/support/sql/ and is available 24 hours a day so customers can search any time for details on how to get the most out of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and its new features.
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