Today Microsoft released the first community technology preview (CTP) of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 for MSDN and TechNet subscribers. A public CTP will be available on Wednesday, August 12th.
Building on the momentum of SQL Server 2008, “R2” improves IT efficiency by reducing the time and cost of developing and managing applications; empowers end users to make better decisions through Self-Service Business Intelligence and enables organizations to scale with confidence by providing high levels of reliability, security and scalability for business critical applications.
This public preview offers the opportunity to experience early, pre-release feature capabilities including:
- Application and Multi-server Management
- SMP scale up with support for up to 256 logical processors
- Report Builder 3.0 with support for geospatial visualization
This CTP provides the first opportunity to explore some of the features of SQL Server 2008 R2 and see how it all comes together to enhance performance and scalability, enable self-service BI and improve IT and developer efficiency. The CTP process is also a great way for you to give us feedback on the new technologies.
More details can be found on http://blogs.technet.com/dataplatforminsider/archive/2009/08/10/download-sql-server-2008-r2-august-ctp-today.aspx