Microsoft[1] CEO Satya Nadella set the tone at the Sept. 24 to Sept. 27 Ignite events[2] in Orlando by sharing at least half a dozen stories of leading companies innovating and pioneering new business models with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI). It was a crisp, one-hour presentation long on vision and surprisingly short on promotion or even mentions of the significant technology announcements that followed.
Also: Microsoft Ignite postmortem: The underlying hybrid convergence[3]
Nadella warned the more than 30,000 attendees that the ability to innovate and drive new business models is as much or more about changing corporate cultures and business processes as it is about applying technology. And when the technology decisions are ready to be made, Nadella counseled executives to know which capabilities are commodities and which warrant custom development to drive differentiation. Nadella said he sees smart companies liberating data silos and moving the bulk of enterprise workloads and innovation initiatives to "the intelligent cloud" and the "intelligent edge."
From the perspective of my data-to-decisions research, the standout tech announcements that followed Nadella's keynote[4] included the public preview release of Microsoft SQL Server 2019, a string of Auto ML and artificial intelligence (AI) enhancements, and new analytical capabilities for big and small data. Here's a look at what's available, what's coming and how they'll stand up.
SQL Server 2019 Evolves from Database to Unified Platform
Introduced in public preview at Ignite, Microsoft SQL Server 2019[5] is an ambitious step forward from mere database to unified data platform. Those who wish to keep using SQL Server as a conventional database deployed in conventional ways will be able to do just that, but the release promises so much more. For starters, SQL Server