SQL Deployments grow in size and amount

I was talking to an IT manager for a large financial bank in Canada about the pending SQL 2005 product launch. He was looking forward to the product as it has been a while since we’ve updated the product version. Today he uses SQL 2000 in a departmental fashion and while he was excited to see the new product he asked the obvious question about whether SQL Server can handle heavy-duty requirements. Taking a page from my past consulting approach, I answered yes and it depends:-). I’m confident that the product can deliver great scalability and gave him a couple of customer references. As well, I asked him to watch the product launch as we will be highlighting some key customers and how they are using the product. But, this is not your basic database and with great capability comes the need to ensure you properly architect a solution that fits your needs. He agreed and commented that this is going to fundamentally change the way people use your database. 

He was right on the money and this was shown in the recent Winter Corp Survey. The Winter Corp. periodically publishes a survey naming the world's largest production databases. This year's survey shows that the largest Windows-based databases have more than doubled in size in the last couple of years, and more of them are cracking the top 10 in some categories. For example, in 2003, only one SQL Server database was among the 10 largest in the OLTP category, but three made the 2005 list. The new survey is also timely, with SQL Server 2005 due out in just a few weeks. Check it out at: https://entmag.com/reports/article.asp?editorialsid=91

I thought I share with you some links I sent him on where you can get more in-depth details about SQL Server 2005 and hear what others are saying.

Cheers,

John