Microsoft has announced the next incarnation of SQL Server, namely SQL Server 2017. It is heralded as the first RDBMS with built-in AI and the first version of SQL Server compatible with Windows, Linux and Docker containers. Notably SQL Server 2017 includes in-database support for a rich library of machine learning functions, and now for the first time Python support (in addition to R), new graph support and Adaptive Query Processing for even better performance. SQL Server 2017 CTP 2.0 is the first for production release of SQL Server 2017.
Other announcements include:
- The release of Microsoft R Server 9.1
- General Availability of three Cognitive Services APIs – Face API, Computer Vision API, and Content Moderator
- New Cortana Intelligence Solutions Templates
- General Availability of Azure Analysis Services
- The GA of Azure Data Lake Analytics and Azure Data Lake Store, which has been previously announced
All this just underlines how serious Microsoft is about business analytics and AI, and Microsoft shops will have little need to go looking elsewhere for their tools and platforms to build intelligent applications and embed AI capability.