New SQL Server 2008 R2 PowerPivot for Excel 2010 Fixes Add-In Expiration

Microsoft has re-released the November Community Technology Preview for an Excel 2010 add-in designed to deliver fast manipulation of large data sets capabilities to the Office 2010 component. The latest CTP Preview release of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 – PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010 is designed to resolve an issue related to the expiration of the extension. As it is the case with all pre-release software offered for testing by the Redmond company, PowerPivot for Excel 2010 is time-bombed. The previous release of the software expired the past week, but the latest version offered through the Microsoft Download Center corrects this aspect, allowing early adopters to continue testing the technology.

“The PowerPivot team is pleased to report that the fix for the November CTP expiration issue has been released. We know many of you have been eagerly awaiting this fix since last week when the PowerPivot for Excel add-in expired. We do sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you,” T. K. Anand, program manager, Microsoft, revealed. “We have released a new version of the November CTP for the PowerPivot for Excel add-in. This new version is functionally identical to the old one except that it extends the expiration date to end of the year.”

Via PowerPivot for Excel 2010, customers are able not only to streamline large data-set manipulation, but also to simplify data integration, and leverage sharing capabilities in concert with SharePoint 2010. Essentially, the add-in is designed to allow massive amounts of data to be translated into comprehensive information that is easy to assess and interpret.

According to Microsoft, PowerPivot for Excel 2010 allows customers to:

“- Process millions of rows with about the same performance as few hundred rows using by leveraging PowerPivot in-memory engine and efficient compression algorithms.
- Integrate data from a multitude of sources, including corporate databases, spreadsheets, reports, text files, and Internet data feeds.
- Go beyond standard Excel expressions and use PowerPivot’s Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) to perform powerful data manipulations. Follow relationships between tables as in a database and define sophisticated calculations using familiar and intuitive expressions.
- Interactively explore, analyze, and create reports without depending on expert knowledge and specialty training by using native Excel 2010 functionality such as PivotTables, slicers, and other familiar analysis features.”

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 - PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010 - November Community Technology Preview (CTP) is available for download here.