Office 2010 is not the only Microsoft software getting a Technical Preview in the second half of 2009. The Redmond company announced at Microsoft Tech•Ed North America 2009 that customers would also be able to get the first taste of the next iteration of SQL Server 2008. Formerly codenamed SQL Server Kilimanjaro, Microsoft's upcoming version of the data platform has been officially labeled SQL Server 2008 R2. According to the software giant, a Community Technology Preview of SQL Server 2008 R2 is planned for shipping in the second half of this year.

“I'm pleased to announce (...) that we will have a technical preview of SQL 2008 R2 in H2, and as you go through and you look at the stuff this week, one of my favorite things about that is the work that we've done on complex event processing. And this is an age-old challenge where you've got a relatively constant stream of data, it's monstrous, and your agility to be able to pattern match within that data is a huge opportunity,” explained Bill Veghte, senior vice president for Windows business.

According to the software giant, SQL Server 2008 R2 will bring to the table consistent enhancements over its precursor. Even as early as the Community Technology Preview of the next version of Microsoft's data platform, customers will be able to test Master Data Services, Application and Multi-Server Management and enjoy support for greater than 64 logical processors. The Redmond company has so far failed to provide the deadline when it planned to start offering the SQL Server 2008 R2 to customers, pointing out only that the release would come in H2 2009. SQL Server 2008 R2 is on track to be delivered in the first half of 2010.

“With its strong focus on business intelligence technologies (BI), SQL Server 2008 R2 will continue to offer enterprise customers exceptional value through more pervasive insight into their data. SQL Server 2008 R2 will provide new capabilities to empower end users to make better decisions through self-service BI, which translates to increased productivity and lower costs,” added a member of the SQL Server team.