Scalable Data-Centric Solutions

SQL Server 2008 provides the functionality that developers need to build scalable data-centric solutions that target any workload, from the smallest device to the largest servers, and enables applications to grow alongside business needs.
Scalable Data Storage

SQL Server is a highly scalable database server that is available in several editions, each designed to meet the requirements of a specific workload. For example, an edition is available for mobile, desktop, workgroup, departmental, and enterprise applications. Each edition provides robust data management that grows with the needs of your applications and data storage requirements. SQL Server 2008 includes a rich set of data platform features that improve the scalability of applications to meet your business needs.

By using the .NET Framework CLR inside SQL Server, developers can easily write stored procedures and user defined functions using highly maintainable managed code. This improves scalability because managed code is more efficient and runs directly against the data in the database.

SQL Server 2008 supports a wide variety of data types that help applications to scale effectively. The GEOMETRY and GEOGRAPHIC data types enable developers to directly work with geospatial data. The new FILESTREAM feature enables database applications to store BLOB data in its native format on the file system outside of the database, while maintaining a seamless link to the database. This allows users to access the data as if it was stored in the database, but ensures that the database size remains manageable.

SQL Server provides developers with robust streaming APIs that enable them to efficiently process large amounts of data. SQL Server 2008 and LINQ provide streaming with LINQ to XML that enables developers to output large amounts of XML data in a simple manner.

Scalable Applications

Each SQL Server edition contains functionality that provides the data management requirements for applications targeted to that edition. Developers can build applications that target any scale of use and, if required, easily scale the design and code to upgrade to a more powerful edition of SQL Servers. An application may be built against one database schema, then later require schema changes. Before the Entity Framework, this situation would have required many updates to the application code to support such changes. With the Entity Framework, applications are shielded from such changes and updates can be made easily.

Furthermore, developers might build a project by using LINQ to SQL and then find that due to requirement changes, they need more flexible mapping or access to other databases. Microsoft will provide tools and guidance to these customers to migrate their applications to LINQ to Entities.

Service Broker is a highly reliable messaging and queuing technology that provides an asynchronous programming model for database applications. It supports high-speed messaging within a single SQL Server instance and across multiple instances on multiple servers. It enables applications to send and receive asynchronous messages by using Transact-SQL that is guaranteed, on time, in order, and secure. This enables developers to build secure database applications that can easily scale to use services on other instances of SQL Server.

SQL Server Compact Edition is a low maintenance small footprint embedded database engine that enables developers to build database applications for desktop and mobile devices. When using SQL Server Compact edition in conjunction with Microsoft Sync Services, developers can build next generation occasionally connected solutions (OCS). This enables mobile users to work with their local copy of the database and synchronize with a central server when they are connected. Distributing workloads between client devices and the database server can drastically increase the scalability of your solutions.

Visual Studio Team System provides a development platform for all members of an enterprise solution team. In conjunction with SQL Server 2008, developers can easily expose objects, data sources, and business intelligence components through HTTP. This enables a broader range of clients to access SQL Server data from heterogeneous environments by using standard protocols and increases the accessibility and reuse of business intelligence components, such as reports and cubes, through Web services.