SQL Server Roundup: SQL Server Growth, New Azure SQL Database Support, and More

A recap of this week's news on SQL Server Pro, including Microsoft’s recent earnings call, along with news on added support in Azure SQL Database...

SQL Server Grows Double Digits

In Microsoft's latest earning call, the company announced that SQL Server has grown double digits, as it had during the company's previous earnings call. The company attributed growth to the recent slew of announcements on SQL Server 2014, Power BI, and Office 365. Although this statement might be associated with SQL Server growth, it might only be marginal, as the term "double digits" is fairly vague. With that said, I'd be interested in hearing more from Microsoft on SQL Server 2014 adoption statistics. We recently polled our audience about upgrading to SQL Server 2014, and we discovered that the majority of our readers had no immediate plans to upgrade. With that said, SQL Server 2014 is a new release, and with any new technological innovation, it needs some time before it reaches the peak of its popularity.

New SQL Database Support

Microsoft also announced new Azure SQL Database Tiers that will eventually replace the SQL Database Web and Business service tiers, which will be retired on April 24, 2015. The new service tiers are available in preview, where you can also get your hands on the new Service-Service Restore and active-geo replication support that's built into the new tiers.

Best of TechEd Finalists Announced!

And if you've missed it, the editors at SQL Server Pro have announced the finalists for our database-related categories for this year's Best of TechEd awards. Did your favorite product make the list? If not, then you'll have the opportunity to vote on-site at the conference for the Attendees' Pick award!