Microsoft SA marked the local launch of its SQL Server 2016 in Midrand on Wednesday.
The cloud-born database offers in-database advanced analytics using the statistics language R. It also boasts end-to end mobile business intelligence, allowing users to extract actionable insights or deliver visual reports "on any device - online or offline," according to Microsoft.
In addition, the platform "supports encrypted query processing capabilities for advanced analytics, machine learning, mobile business intelligence, and data integration," said Kelly Husband, data platform product marketing manager at Microsoft SA.
What has changed over the last couple of years is that most customers are not merely recognising trends as trends, but actively responding to them as a matter of priority, commented Clifford de Wit, CIO at Microsoft SA.
In addition to better understanding their market and the effectiveness of their products, more and more businesses are embracing data science "because they want to experiment meaningfully before they make decisions," said Rafal Lukawiecki, global data scientist leader at Project Botticelli.
Microsoft also plans to offer SQL Server 2016 on Linux, as "another step towards making the... platform available for any data to run any application, anywhere," the company says.
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