Yesterday at its virtual launch event Microsoft announced the general availability of of SQL Server 2012. The product will be generally available on April 1st but you can download the evaluation version today.
We’ve had quite a bit of coverage of SQL Server 2012 already but some of the really big new features in the new release include:
- AlwaysOn Availability Groups
- Support for Server Core
- Power View
- SQL Server Data Tools
- Data Quality Services
- Hadoop Integration
While there been a lot of exciting changes to the product there’s also been changes to the editions and licensing. SQL Server 2012 will provide the Enterprise, Business Intelligence, Standard and Express editions. Notably the older Datacenter and Workgroup editions have been dropped. A new core based licensing scheme has been added as well. You can learn more about the new editions and licensing at:http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/get-sql-server/licensing.aspx
I recently attended a Microsoft workshop in Redmond covering SQL Server 2012. Like you might expect they delivered a lot of great in-depth information. However, one of the other great things that I can share with you are the new SQL Server Virtual Labs. We got to try these labs out and they are really cool. They can give you hands-on experience with the new features in SQL Server 2012 and you don’t had to wait to download or install the product. The labs are free and you can find the SQL Server Virtual Labs at: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/learning-center/virtual-labs.aspx