Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 helps organisations manage any data, any place, any time. It enables customers to store data from structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents, such as images and music, directly within the database. It also delivers a rich set of integrated services that enable customers to do more with their data, such as query, search, synchronise, report, and analyse.

Data can be stored and accessed in the largest server within a data center all the way down to desktops and mobile devices, enabling customers to remain in control of their data, no matter where it is stored.

Microsoft SQL Server can address the following customer pain points:

Security
Security feature enhancements such as strong authentication and access control, powerful encryption, key management capabilities, and enhanced auditing all help to provide a high level of security for your customer’s enterprise data.

Business Continuity
‘Always On’ Technologies provide a full range of options to minimise downtime and maintain appropriate levels of application availability.

Manageability
A policy-based system for managing one or more instances of SQL Server, along with tools for performance monitoring and troubleshooting, enables more efficient management of databases and SQL Server instances.

Productivity
Providing a comprehensive data platform that can grow with your business; SQL Server 2008 is packed with technologies to scale-up individual servers and scale-out very large databases, and tools to optimise performance.

IBM System x provides the optimum hardware platform to run SQL Server on with:

• Unmatched Growth and Scalability with a unique chip architecture enabling you to pay as you grow up to 64 Processing Cores with memory and I/O expandability to match.
• Flexibility and investment protection to run both 32-bit and 64-bit applications
• Cost-effective consolidation running multiple database instances on fewer hardware platforms
• Risk Mitigation through High Availability and Reliability features
• Maximize productivity with integrated hardware and remote-management software

IBM also has a comprehensive range of industry leading storage solutions to match your business requirements and assist with your Microsoft SQL Server environment. Visitwww.ibmstoragecentre.com for more information.

Why IBM System and SQL Server White Paper
Reach for Microsoft – SQL Server
Reach for Microsoft - Windows Server 2008
IBM System x with Microsoft SQL Server

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