SQL Server 2008

The new SQL Server service pack has support for up to 15,000 database partitions, updates to reporting and management tools, and integration with SharePoint 2010.

If you're like many small business owners, the news that Microsoft is weeks away from the release of a new version of SQL Server 2008 could seem utterly irrelevant to your interests. But it isn't. Microsoft has added important new features in this version that will help you delve more deeply into your business data, extract the most useful nuggets of information, and present them in a compelling way.

The release rolls up all fixes since the initial launch, and could spur adoption of the database.

In this interview, Bob Kelly, Microsoft's corporate vice president of infrastructure server marketing, discusses the adoption rate of Windows Server 2008, Microsoft's plans for cloud-based services, and the recent declaration by Paul Maritz, an ex-Microsoft executive and current president and CEO of VMware, that the traditional server operating system "has all but disappeared."