It's finally here!

Simon Piff, regional solutions manager, Enterprise Server Marketing Group of Microsoft Asia Pacific makes his keynote address at the 'Ready to Respond' event.. PHOTO: STAR

Simon Piff, regional solutions manager, Enterprise Server Marketing Group of Microsoft Asia Pacific, heralded the arrival of SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and Biztalk 2006 in the local market at a special 'Ready to Respond' event at the Bangladesh-China International Conference Centre on December 12.

Both SQL Server, which was last updated five years ago, and Visual Studio 2005 are critical releases for Microsoft, as it gears up for the debut of Windows Vista (Codenamed Longhorn) within the next few years. The development tools, combined with .NET Framework, will usher in the next-generation applications focused on connectivity and streamlining business processes.

Specifically, Visual Studio 2005 boasts improved performance and security to build what Microsoft calls "enterprise-grade" applications, along with a new Team System element to facilitate collaboration within a development group.

Piff admitted that SQL Server 2005 was "a little bit long in coming," but emphasised the major changes in the release. The database can now handle up to 93,000 concurrent users, and integration with .NET Framework 2.0 brings better performance.

Business intelligence tools has been added in SQL Server 2005, such as the built-in reporting and data analysis tools and according to Piff it will soon launch Business Scorecard Manager 2005 to extend that functionality. SQL Server will also offer better integration with Microsoft Office and Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2005

Visual Studio 2005 ships in several different editions. At the low end, the Visual Studio Express Editions provide a simplified and streamlined development environment targeted at specific languages or application types. These editions are intended primarily for learning and experimenting with .NET application development and can be downloaded free of cost.

The Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition lets one build department-grade Web applications as well as Windows, console, mobile, and client-server applications, using Visual Basic, C#, J#, or C++.

For professional developers, Microsoft offers two editions. The Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, targets all the application types discussed above, and adds remote server development and debugging, 64-bit capability, and a full-featured development environment. The Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System, is intended primarily for developers building Office automation applications. This version does not include the J# or C++ languages, 64-bit support, or support for Mobile projects, but includes a Windows Server 2003 Developer Edition, and Microsoft Access 2003 Developer Extensions and a runtime license. Both Professional editions include SQL Server Developer Edition.

Enterprises should consider Visual Studio Team System Editions, which basically integrates application planning and lifecycle management tools with Visual Studio Professional Edition. Finally, those who need all the features can buy Visual Studio Team Suite, which bundles all three Team Editions into one package.

BizTalk Server 2006

BizTalk Server 2006 adds support for in-order message processing, transactional pipelines, non-atomic interchange, SharePoint Services adaptors, Web Services Enhancements 2.0, POP3, and improved SMTP support for attachments. Simplified management and deployment, extended Business Activity Management (Bam), an improved Orchestration Designer, better flat-file import, project import/export capabilities, and support for bulk operations round out this update.

In an exclusive interview with the StarTech, Simon Piff said this was his second visit to Bangladesh. The first time he came here was in July 2004 to address the server market, just before Microsoft Bangladesh was launched.

"Even at that time I was very impressed with the degree of investment that was being planned; there was a lot of activities going on in the market, especially in the telecommunications sector," said Piff.

"This is the first time we are launching any product officially in Bangladesh. And within the past 18 months that we have been here, we did not have any new products available. When these new products arrived, we though of treating Bangladesh like any other market and planned this launch," he added.

Piff also think Bangladesh has a vibrant market and this launch is very important for it as well as Microsoft.

When asked if Microsoft has a special pricing policy for the Bangladesh market, Piff said there is no pricing policy for the server products at present and it has a price tag based on the standard pricing policy, which is the same globally.

As previously announced, Microsoft has reworked its product editions for SQL Server 2005. However, Microsoft has a free downloadable "Express" version of SQL Server 2005 for developers and for non-commercial use.