Microsoft Corporation India Private Limited today announced the Release to Manufacture (RTM) of SQL Server 2008 - the latest version of its acclaimed database management offering. With this, SQL Server 2008 will be available to Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and computer manufacturers for the product’s final physical replication and distribution. SQL Server 2008 is the foundation of Microsoft’s Business Intelligence solutions and provides customers with powerful new capabilities in areas like data governance, support for spatial data, policy-based management and advanced reporting and analysis services. Along with the RTM, Microsoft also announced that SQL Server 2008 is available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. SQL Server 2008 licenses have already been available for ordering from 1^st August, 2008.

The Community Technology Preview (CTP) version of SQL Server 2008 was released in March 2008, and the new offering will be priced at the same value as the previous versions. More than 450,000 customers and partners have downloaded SQL Server 2008 since the global CTP launch and nearly 1,000 ISVs, including SAP and UGS, have successfully developed over 75 large scale applications on the platform, with an additional 1350 applications currently underway.

“We have seen great success for SQL Server during our last financial year, with SQL Server revenue growing at an amazing 54% - much faster than the market itself. This is testament to the fact that SQL Server is a mission critical, enterprise ready database solution that is seeing wide scale deployment across India and with the availability of SQL Server 2008, we expect to continue building on this great momentum,” said Ms. Pallavi Kathuria, Director – Server Business Group, Microsoft India. She further added, “Microsoft SQL Server 2008 is the only major database that includes comprehensive, tightly integrated functionality for data management as well as advanced business intelligence – all out-of-the-box. By offering a complete solution, we save customers time and money and allow them to focus on deriving the most value from their data assets.”

In India, over 30 ISVs including Sonata Software, Skelta, Polaris, Infrasoft, Natural Technologies, Nelito, DVS, Financial Technologies and Ramco have successfully built applications on SQL Server 2008. Additionally, early adopters of the platform like Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen and Toubro, TVS and Sahara India are already benefiting from the fresh feature enhancements in the platform.

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