Internetnews: Microsoft Adds SQL Server Note to 2007 Drumbeat

It’s really very good to see how product development is aligned to bring all our ‘moving parts’ together into 1 very well integrated platform en evenly important 1 integrated user experience. No one can do this quite as well as Microsoft …

… REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft (Quote) released enhancements to SQL Server 2005 that it hopes will make it a more significant player in the business intelligence (BI) space.

The new features, which are part of the new Service Pack 2 (SP2), tie in closely with reporting capabilities in Excel and Visio that were introduced with Office 2007, and ultimately should help Microsoft sell PerformancePoint 2007 when it is rolled out later this year.

Francois Ajenstat, director of SQL Server marketing at Microsoft, said that SP2 includes data mining add-ins for the 2007 Microsoft Office system that enable data mining functionality from SQL Server Analysis Services to be used directly within Excel 2007 and Visio 2007.

Repeating the company’s mantra that customers can get more out of their line of business applications when they are presented in familiar Office productivity tools, Ajenstat told internetnews.com that “we’re bringing BI to where the users live.”

SQL Server 2005 now also allows users to seamlessly consume and manage reports in SharePoint Server.

“So now SharePoint can host BI info and users can access both structured and unstructured data in the same environment,” he added. …

… “Our goal is BI for everyone,” noted Ajenstat. …

Source : Internetnews.com