Microsoft Corporation has announced SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse, a new set of reference architectures for data warehousing that will help eliminate many of the barriers companies traditionally face while creating data warehouses. Priced on a per terabyte basis, SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse gives customers immediate access to pretested, preconfigured industry-standard hardware from partners Bull, Dell and HP that makes it easier and more affordable for companies to deploy enterprise-class data warehousing projects.
Through balanced configurations, the new reference architectures are designed to optimize all hardware components, delivering up to 200 MB per second performance per CPU core. SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse is designed to deliver increased performance and linear scalability up to 32 terabytes out of the box with minimal tuning required, thereby saving IT departments more time and money. In addition, Microsoft is partnering with systems integrators Avanade, Cognizant Technology Solutions, HP, and Hitachi Consulting Corp. to provide solution templates specially tailored for the new reference architectures.
According to Microsoft, its unique delivery model allows customers more flexibility and choice than is available with some other data warehouse appliances on the market today. This model lets customers select industry-standard hardware that conforms to their existing infrastructure environments, and which comes pre-loaded and pre-tested with SQL Server 2008, which is an integrated data management and business intelligence platform.
SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse is the next milestone for customers following Microsoft's roadmap for enterprise business intelligence and data warehousing. This roadmap includes a project code-named "Madison" that will integrate SQL Server 2008 with the massively parallel processing technologies acquired with DATAllegro to enable companies to configure data warehouses into the hundreds of terabytes. Herain Oberoi, group product manager for the SQL Server business group at Microsoft, tells 5 Minute Briefing that "an investment in the SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse today enables customers to put a down payment into the Madison roadmap based on a hub-and-spoke architecture. The single node SQL Server 2008 architectures purchased now will be the smaller data marts that will act as spokes which eventually can be connected into the large data warehouse hub to be provided by Madison."
SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse hardware and reference architectures are available from Bull, Dell and HP. More information is available from Microsoft.
For Bull reference architectures, go here.
For HP reference architectures, go here.
For Dell reference architectures, go here.