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SQL Server Still on Top
Microsoft's venerable relational database management system remains on top with a regular pattern of updates and enhancements to ensure its continued strength in the market.
According to industry observers like Gartner and IDC, Microsoft's SQL Server in all its incarnations is the world's most widely used relational database management system (RDMS). There is a regular pattern of updates and enhancements that ensure its continued strength in the market. Market researcher Gartner Group reports that in 2011, SQL Server databases accounted for 17 percent of the market.
The RDMS market hit $26 billion in 2011, according to IDC. That is a 15 percent increase from 2010. IDC anticipates a compound annual growth rate of 9.9 percent through 2016, when the market will reach as much as $41 billion. This growth is driven by the increased computational demands of trends like business intelligence and big data.
If your organization has built or is building its data warehouse around SQL Server, you can learn more about optimizing its configuration. SQL Server Live, as part of the Live 360 event happening this November 18-22 in Orlando, FL, will present several sessions that can help fine tune SQL Server for optimal performance.
The session entitled "Building Perfect SQL Servers, Every Time," presented by Joseph D'Antoni, solutions architect with Anexinet, will help you manage SQL Server's default settings. SQL Server ships with a lot of defaults that aren't ideal in many environments. This session will cover what you will need to fix, and how to automate processes like server monitoring.
Another session from D'Antoni entitled "Who Moved My Tuple? Columnstore Indexes in SQL Server 2014," will present the ins and outs of columnstore indexes, a feature introduced in SQL Server 2012. Unfortunately, the columnstore indexes feature has several limitations, the biggest two being they can't be a clustered index (duplication of data) and you can't add data to them. This session will help you learn about the index architecture, where to use them and how they work.
The SQL Server Enterprise Edition has a bundle of features that some organizations may not know how to use. D'Antoni's session "Accelerate Database Performance through Data Compression" will help you accelerate queries using data compression. This can greatly reduce IO throughput, which is a major bottleneck for many organizations.
Live! 360 Coming to Orlando
Live! 360 combines VSLive! with events covering collaboration, data dev/management, Modern App dev, and IT into a single confab -- all for one price -- this November 18-22 in Orlando, Florida. Expand your .NET skills and build the best apps with tips and tricks from industry experts and Microsoft insiders. Find out more at http://live360events.com/.
About the Author
Lafe Low is the editorial liaison for ECG Events.