February 28, 2013 News Thursday: Microsoft Talks Big Data at O’Reilly Strata and more Server and Tools News…

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by STB Blogger

Microsoft Talks Big Data at O’Reilly Strata

This morning, Microsoft Technical Fellow Dave Campbell took the stage at the annual O’Reilly Strata Conference in Santa Clara, CA, and discussed Microsoft’s commitment to and continued investment in big data. In addition, he highlighted how Halo 4 uses Microsoft’s big data tools to gain data insights that help improve the gaming experience. You can watch the full recording on Dave’s keynote at the Strata Conference website.

Microsoft also made a number of big data disclosures this week, including:

  • SQL Server 2012 Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW), which was first announced during SQL PASS Summit in November, will be available to order starting tomorrow, March 1, 2013. Integrated hardware and software PDW appliances from Microsoft hardware partners will become available in March. SQL Server 2012 PDW is an enterprise-class appliance built for big data workloads that require very high scalability and performance.
  • On Wednesday, Microsoft released a preview of Data Explorer for Excel, available for download here. Data Explorer enhances the self-service BI experience in Excel. Its search functionality simplifies data discovery, and richer insights result from access to a broader range of data types. It also provides an intuitive and consistent experience for connecting to data and data shaping across a wide variety of sources including relational, structured and semi-structured, Odata, Web, Hadoop, Windows Azure Marketplace, and more.
  • On Monday, Hortonworks announced the availability of the beta of the Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP) for Windows, which enables customers to deploy an enterprise-ready 100% Apache Hadoop-based distribution on Windows Server. The beta is available for download here.

For more information on these announcements, check out the “Busting Big Data Adoption Myths” series on the Data Platform Insider blog, which includes a post today by Dave Campbell. You can also visit https://www.microsoft.com/bigdata for more information.

Windows Server Brings Manageability and Productivity to Businesses

If you’re assessing whether to switch to a Windows Server system or upgrade from an older version, chances are you just want your IT to do more, and do it more efficiently.  For any small or mid-size business looking to increase its competitiveness, making the move to Windows Server 2012 can increase employee productivity, reduce the time and costs associated with IT management and help keep critical data safe.

The Microsoft OEM Division works with hardware partners to bring Windows devices to market, including a range of Windows Servers and solutions for business customers.  Several of our top OEM partners have server and systems packages that allow a business to upgrade from the point of customer contact all the way through to the back office and some will even manage it for you.

Read the blog post to learn how Microsoft is working with hardware vendors to bring the benefits of Windows Server 2012 to customers.

Microsoft Makes a Case for Security Optimism at RSA Conference

Security issues have always been industry issues. There is no silver bullet and there is no single company that can solve all the security problems confronted by computer users. While the security industry frequently focuses on the evolving threat and the associated fear, uncertainty and doubt; companies, organizations and individuals without fanfare make progress and drive impact every single day. At the RSA Conference, Scott Charney, corporate vice president, Trustworthy Computing Microsoft, presented a keynote entitled: Making a Case for Security Optimism. He shared his viewpoint on key security industry accomplishments that will have long-term impact and together form a basis for optimism.  For more information about Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, please visit: microsoft.com/twc.