Microsoft has announced its SQL Server 2008 R2 will be ready for release to manufacturing in early May.
The database software that competes with the likes of Oracle and IBM will be available to the the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) from 3 May, with general availability coming just over a week later on 13 May.
"We are very proud of the release," said Ted Kummert, senior vice president for the business platform division at the launch. "It is an important next step for us and our customers [looking for] quality, security, reliability, performance and scalability."
The latest version features new managed, self-service business intelligence, which Microsoft claims will make it easier for IT professionals and developers to collaborate. In addition, Microsoft has focused on making it usable in a variety of environments "from the mobile, to the cloudto the data centre."
Microsoft claims 2,000 partners are already planning to build systems to integrate with the R2 release and said it has had positive feedback from the customers testing the product.
"SQL Server 2008 R2 is the foundation for getting actionable data into the hands of the everyday decision makers," concluded Tom Casey, general manager for SQL Server Business Intelligence. "Nobody else offers such an integrated platform."
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