Today the SQL Server Team announced the availability of three major CTP’s and several new upcoming projects in the SQL related family tree.

The major (August 2009) CTP’s are:

• SQL Server 2008 R2
• SQL Server StreamInsight
• SQL Azure

Although all three releases are another great leap forward from an ADO perspective, it’s SQL Azure which I’ve got my eye on for a while now.

SQL Azure in a nutshell

So you have heard the official business targeted lingo that accompanies SQL Azure. Let me enlighten you with my own personal interpretation of ‘what’ SQL Azure is in a nutshell:

SQL Azure will be functionally comparable with SQL Server Express. Only you’re going to put it in the cloud.

As it is built on SQL Server core technologies it is said that it will be compatible with your current tools and (partially) projects. That means you will be able to start up SQL Server Management Studio and use it to manage your database in the cloud. Also worth mentioning is the possibility to change the connection string on an existing project to connect it to the cloud.

Now I am going to test these statements fully – and my simple no holds barred one-liner recap - to exploit its potential and perhaps find some drawbacks in the initial release. And so should you. Registration is available now through Microsoft Connect. Be noticed that there is a pretty large queue of eager beavers that are subscribed to the SQL Azure CTP. So have a little patience for the invite to drop in your inbox.