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Microsoft outlined in very broad strokes its long-term data storage vision on April 6 at a customer lunch in San Francisco.
Microsoft is rebranding its SQL Server Mobile Edition product as “SQL Server Everywhere,” and is planning to release a first CTP (Community Technology Preview) test build of a new version of that product in the summer of 2006, with final availability slated in some time in the second half of 2006.
The new SQL Server Everywhere release will run on Windows CE, as does the current product, but also on Win32 and Win64 platforms.
“SQL Server Everywhere is a very lightweight database. Its not a server. Its for online and offline use,” said Paul Flessner, senior vice president of Microsofts Data and Storage Division.
In offline mode, users might choose to run SQL Server Everywhere on their Windows systems, and then later sync it with a server version of SQL Server, he added.
Microsoft also is on track to release a final version of its first service pack for SQL Server 2005 later in April, Flessner said.
Microsoft made a CTP release of SP1 available in March.
The biggest new feature delivered with that service pack will be the data-mirroring capability that Microsoft pulled from SQL Server 2005 in the final stages of testing.
Paul provided something “between a vision and a road map,” he said, detailing the companys plans to meet users changing data storage demands.